You could shut off social media and ignore all the conversations revolving around AI. But unlike 20 years ago or even 10 years ago, tuning out the online conversation doesn’t exempt you from the impact of those topics.
If human jobs are going to be replaced, humans will lose their jobs. If career paths are going to narrow to a select few, then most interested young adults don’t have that option.
We need a path forward. As parents of teenagers navigating dual enrollment, college aspirations, and career questions, we want to advise our children toward paths of interest that still have future career opportunities.
But which paths are still open? Are the paths open today going to be open 5-10 years from now? If most of the paths we know are closing soon, how can we possibly hope to point our children in a useful direction?
The wealthy give odd advice
Billionaire business owners point to liberal arts education and comfortably predict that thinkers and well-rounded humans will be the future of our race. Those billionaires were NOT liberal arts majors themselves. And they have made their billions already. Their survival is not at stake. This prognostication is theoretical and not all that important for them directly.
I always shy away from the life advice of someone who tells you not to worry or concern yourself with certain problems when they have enough money to buy their way out of those problems. It is not a sign of personal growth or development to have exceeded the cost of solving problems with money.
The unknowns
For the first time in my memory, no human being can claim to accurately predict what human beings will be doing productively and economically in 20 years. Ten years is even a stretch. Perhaps 50% of current human jobs will still be operated by humans in ten years. Maybe. But we really won’t know until we see how several factors play out:
How the cost of energy affects computing advancement
How the cost of data centers affects computing advancement
How the advancement of AI affects environment and human survival skills
Whether AI partners with humans, dominates them, or abandons them
They are creating computational entities that can think and make decisions based on factors we don’t fully control. Which means we don’t know if AI will be running robots inside auto factories or hardware factories. We don’t know what percentage of cars will be self-driving without steering wheels. We don’t know how laws will change based on what AI can control more safely than humans can.
We just don’t know.
We could have the ultimate partner making every action easier and more thoroughly reasoned. Or we could lose access and be left to beg for scraps.
Still we are full steam ahead.
The options
You could buy a piece of land big enough for multiple houses and build at least one to start, with the goal of owning a family compound to preserve your own family for generations to come.
That’s a decent plan with some significant consequences:
Isolation from society the more distant / safe you are from urban centers
Limited in expansion - only enough room for 1-2 more generations before you run out of space
Inability to grow/raise/build everything you’ll need to thrive for decades to come
Disconnection from society at a crucial time in societal development / adaptation means a permanent distance and lack of connection with how the rest of the world is doing life
Not everyone in the family will want to remain on the compound and do agrarian lifestyle work - some family will leave
Even a compound isn’t safe from nanotech, satellites, toxic rain, blight, drought, or seizure
My point is, even the best plan has weaknesses. No plan is perfect. Most people will do nothing different and adapt to whatever micro changes occur from year to year. They’ll change careers, teach their children different lessons, consume different food and entertainment, and challenge very little for the sake of survival.
Option 1: Some people will abandon the narrative entirely and will isolate to preserve the concept of liberty and independence, even if these are somewhat naive.
Option 2: Others will attempt to protect themselves by accumulating so much wealth that they don’t depend on the changing economy but still participate in common society.
Option 3: Yet others will attempt a hybrid approach of owning land free and clear while continuing to earn via technology for as long as the opportunity allows. These are hedging their bets because it’s still too soon to tell which doors will open and which will shut.
The hybrid approach offers the maximum flexibility, but it also prevents a person from being the most skilled or prepared for any one scenario. The time and money invested in acquiring land and tools is time and money not spent growing an AI-integrated business that may thrive and finally deliver generational wealth. The time and money required to build an AI-centric business towards the hope of generational wealth is time and resources not spent on owning a place to live and a way to eat if your business or industry disappears.
Most people will ultimately do almost nothing because it’s the easiest choice to make. You read an article like this and you’ve not been gifted the secret sauce to a happy life.
In fact, you feel more scared of the possible outcomes now than you were when you started. And if your very next move is to comfort yourself with an Instagram reel or a box of cookies, you’ll set aside the warning bell chiming in your head and move on with your day.
And if you do, you may never do anything to prepare yourself for the changes ahead.
So what changes COULD you make today?
Choose your quest
Choose any ONE of these quests this week toward becoming a resilient, useful human:
Practice acquiring food
Read a book on native edible plants to your area. Take that book out to find edible plants near your home.
Start a micro greens tray. Harvest in 7-10 days.
Practice one method of food preservation: quick-pickling, dehydrating, or basic water-bath canning.
Practice growing high calorie foods (potatoes, squash, beans). Don’t invest a ton yet in decorative raised beds or planting boxes.
Outcome: You begin to feel capable of providing your family with food and you become less dependent on your grocery store.
Learn some basic finance and digital assets
Spend an hour a day reading about decentralized finance (DeFi), CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies), and how hard assets function during high inflation.
Set up a hardware wallet or a secure non-custodial software wallet. Move a small amount of money into it to understand how to truly own a digital asset without a middleman bank.
Outcome: You transition from being a passive consumer to an active manager.
Learn some basic short-term survival skills
Learn how to store water safely, and purchase/practice using a high-quality gravity filter or portable purifier. Try using basic natural filtration materials you might be able to find if you had to later.
Research and map out a small solar-generator setup (like a Jackery or EcoFlow unit with a solar panel) capable of keeping your essential equipment running during a blackout.
Outcome: You have basic knowledge that allows you to make clear-headed decisions in a crisis.
Build a functional app
Spend two weeks learning a no-code tool like Bubble, Glide, or Softr. Build a simple, working application (like a local directory or a personal tracker).
Learn how databases work (tables, keys, and relations) using Airtable or Notion.
Outcome: Once you’ve demystified software creation, you have the ability to quickly launch business ideas or build company tools to increase profit
Network with your community
Make a list of your closest community gardens, tool libraries, independent mechanics, and medical professionals.
Attend two local town halls, neighborhood association meetings, or niche business networking events. Meet your neighbors and local business owners.
Outcome: You begin to grow a local community network you can contribute to and rely on in times of need. The best time to build connections is when you don’t actively need them.
Evaluate the feasibility of land ownership
Research climate, land prices, and varying costs for living on a 5+ acre piece of land. It’s worth knowing the difference in cost between 5, 10, 20, 30 acres and the distances away from your current home for those sizes to be affordable.
Evaluate your finances and determine what it would take for you to invest in a 5+ acre piece of land.
Outcome: You recognize concretely what you can or cannot do given your current situation. You discover what goals you’d need to set to achieve this step. You are now equipped to make intelligent decisions rather than the only available one.
Any one of these quests brings you one step closer toward resilience. You won’t be prepared for every occasion. Two weeks from now, you WILL be more prepared next week than you are today.
Pick one of these quests and check it off the list this week. Give yourself two weeks to complete. Check a second quest off the list. Give yourself two weeks to complete. Check a third one off the list. Continue until you have completed this checklist.
Within three months, you will have built within yourself foundational preparation and knowledge you don’t have today. Whatever decisions you make after that, at least they will be more educated.
Never stop building
Not sure what to quest to choose after these? Check back with me (or Google / Chat / Claude / Grok) and ask for more. There are many more available quests for building resilience and becoming a more useful human.