The Generation X Files

I can’t quite pinpoint the exact time that it all stopped making sense to me. I know this world in which I find myself living in 2025 is different. It is not what I thought I’d signed up for.

I was born in the 1970’s and I feel like my generation (Gen X) are the last cohort to have lived in the last gasps of a free society.

As kids, we came home when the street lamps lit up at night.

We could (and I did!) make all the stupid mistakes that come with youth without having to worry about it being recorded for posterity.

Our summers were spent outdoors, on our bikes, creating chaos and memories with our friends.

In current year, it’s almost impossible to have any kind of privacy. We have traded our freedoms for “security”.

The Governments of the world will surely take care of us, all for the small price of having access to every aspect of your life.

I don’t know about you but it feels to me like there’s a lot hidden in the small print and I probably should have read it before I signed up.

I don’t consider myself a luddite but I feel like all the advancements in technology are happening faster than we can even comprehend.

In the not too distant future, hundreds of thousands of human jobs will be replaced.

It’s not just going to be traditionally “working class” jobs either.

You think paying back student loan debt sucks now? Imagine how it’s going to feel when you’ve spent all that time and money on a (now obsolete) degree.

You’re replaced by a machine that is more accurate, works all day every day, never has a sick day or holiday and will never have to take time off to take their cat to the vet (I’m looking at you Barbara!).

Why spend all those years on a law degree when in a few years there could be fully AI managed courts with no need for human representation because the algorithms can dispassionately decide the verdict and sentence?

What happens when humans are no longer required in any jobs and find themselves universally unemployed?

One thing which is often discussed is Universal Basic Income (UBI). In other words, a system where the government provides a regular payment to all citizens regardless of their income or employment status.

Sounds great in theory right?

Well like most things in life, it depends on how you look at it.

Those in favour argue that UBI could act as a safety net for those displaced from jobs by automation.

Also, that it could benefit our overall mental health providing everyone with a guaranteed income on a recurring basis.

One of the biggest arguments against it is the cost and how it would be funded.

Another reason against a state provided income to citizens is that it might *clutches pearls* disincentivise people from working. In the capitalistic societies that most of us live in, that is unacceptable!

We have been conditioned to see those who are not in education, employment or training (otherwise known as NEETs) as a section of society that is lesser than for not contributing.

So what happens when humans en masse become NEETs? When there’s no need for education and training because there is no employment. Will our Governments foot the bill for all of us?

In theory, AI could potentially be the greatest thing that ever happened to us as a species.

The optimist in me hopes so. She dreams of a new Industrial Revolution that will replace human jobs sure but, ultimately lead to a Utopian world where humans no longer have to spend more time at work than with their loved ones.

Where there will be no more empty bellies anywhere in the world because there is enough food for everyone.

But, optimistic me (although lovely to spend a bit of time with) is a naive fool and my pragmatic self is a lot more sceptical!

This week, Nvidia (who specialise in advanced computer chips including those which power AI) was valued at $5 trillion. That’s five TRILLION dollars. Honestly, I’d have to Google it to see how many zeroes that is!

I do know that’s some serious dough though and that’s just ONE company making one of the components.

US President Donald Trump has urged the AI sector to make rapid advances in the technology. His Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, in October of this year, discouraged the use of the word “safety” in relation to AI stating “It makes us sound like we’re afraid.”

Well, I for one am afraid. And it’s not just me it seems, as King Charles III also has his doubts about the future of this technology.

So much so that he actully handed a copy of his 2023 speech, from the world’s first AI summit in Bletchley Park, to Jensen Huang, the Head of Nvidia just yesterday!

The speech included a warning about the dangers of AI and the need to tackle the risks with “a sense of urgency, unity and collective strength”.

So, if the King of England is worried, I feel like it’s okay for me to be too.

And it’s not just me and the King, there are countless experts who have voiced their concerns about the dangers.

Even Elon Musk has described AI as one of humanity’s “biggest threats” and one of his companies, Neuralink, is working on brain chips (that’s a whole other discussion for another day – don’t get me started!).

I can’t help feeling a growing sense of unease that we might just be on the verge of witnessing our own extinction.

I find myself (not for the first time) wondering who do I speak to about the decisions that are being made about my future?

What if I don’t want CERN to potentially open up a black hole or cause the Mandela Effect (I’m cornucopia timeline in case you’re wondering).

What if I don’t want to have the sun dimmed? I mean I’m not claiming to be a scientist but is that really a good idea?

I wonder, do other people feel that same prickle of primal fear that we are fast becoming surplus to requirements?

Are the conspiracy theorists right about the shadowy globalists secretly pulling the strings and determining our futures?

Or, have I just spent too much time lurking on 4chan? It’s probably that isn’t it? Yeah, I bet it’s that.

So, what do you think?

Are we facing a future straight out of Terminator or Futurama?

Will you consent to your identity becoming fully digitized or do you have concerns?

Do I ask too many questions?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Let’s communicate with each other while there’s still a chance we’re talking to a human!

Citizen Jane x