After Work, We’ll Have Each Other
from Aarva Hosted by Asterisk
If nobody has to work, how do you earn respect without relying on who you know? Eighteenth-century French aristocrats and 1980s Midwestern society ladies shared one trait: they didn't have to work. In an essay published on 1 September 2026, Asterisk uses these groups to test a popular prediction about artificial intelligence. If machines eventually take over the labor market and leave us with an economy based entirely on human relationships, what happens to society? The historical record suggests that when people cannot earn independent respect through labor, they become clannish and obsessed with status. The essay asks a quiet question about the post-work utopia: who will we become without jobs to ground us? An examination of how human behavior changes when work is no longer the primary source of status. Compares 18th-century French aristocrats, 1980s Midwestern socialites, and 1950s Bostonian peer groups to show how communities without formal labor become clannish and obsessed with hierarchy. Suggests that modern employment provides an impersonal foundation for respect that makes individual freedom possible. Read at source: Asterisk For more features and details, visit aarva.app
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