The Myth of Meaning: How the Elite Want You to Earn Your Right to Exist

No Job, No Purpose? Tell That to a Delhi Street Sweeper

An Existential Crisis for the Masses... from the Comfort of a Boardroom

Picture this: a boardroom full of billionaires and famous talking heads, sipping hand-crafted oat milk lattes brewed by underpaid baristas, nodding solemnly as they express their deepest concern for you, dear unemployed citizen of the AI future. Not about your rent, your groceries, or your ability to survive. No, they lie awake at night, terrified that you might one day... feel bored.

Yes, in an ironic twist worthy of a Black Mirror episode, some of the most financially insulated people on the planet have discovered a new existential threat: your possible lack of purpose in a world where machines do most of the work. Enter the parade of concern:

Elon Musk: Meaning in a Mars-bound World

Elon Musk, who dreams of colonizing Mars and whose net worth could buy several small countries, gently wonders:

If the computer and robots can do everything better than you, does your life have meaning?

Touching. One imagines him shedding a diamond-studded tear into his Neuralink prototype. It’s sweet that he’s worried the masses might lose meaning—a concern he's somehow never voiced about the millions stuck in soul-crushing jobs his companies have tried to automate away.

Ben Shapiro: No Work, No Actualization?

Ben Shapiro, master of rapid-fire monologues and hot takes, asserts that people might find it:

Very difficult to actualize with very little work to do.

Apparently, being liberated from 60-hour weeks at Amazon warehouses might destroy our inner Michelangelo. How will we possibly find ourselves without the character-building joy of unpaid internships and spreadsheet-induced migraines?

Jordan Peterson: Purpose Through Suffering

Jordan Peterson, ever the high priest of personal responsibility, warns us that UBI will corrode our souls. According to him, meaning comes from struggle, from shouldering the burden, from... working as a cashier while your dreams atrophy in a corner. Or maybe:

• Scrubbing floors in a windowless fast-food kitchen.
• Shoveling human waste in the back alleys of Delhi under the scorching sun.
• Working twelve-hour shifts as a janitor in a lead-paint factory.

Nothing screams psychological health like tying your identity to a job you hate and a boss who calls you by the wrong name.

Reality Check: What Happens When People Are Free

Let’s be clear: no one is arguing that purpose isn’t important. But the idea that purpose must be delivered via capitalism’s grind culture is laughable.

Historians like Rutger Bregman have shown that when people receive a basic income, they don’t collapse into Netflix comas. They invest in caregiving, education, and yes—even art. Imagine that: human beings voluntarily choosing to do meaningful things when not trapped in survival mode.

Economists like Guy Standing debunk the myth that UBI equals laziness. Instead, it provides the freedom to refuse demeaning, precarious jobs. It empowers people to work on what matters to them, rather than simply paying rent. But of course, to some elites, autonomy looks dangerously close to anarchy.

The Irony of the Automation Investors

Perhaps the greatest irony is this: the same people who claim UBI would create a purposeless underclass are also aggressively investing in AI that displaces workers. It’s like throwing your neighbor's house into a river and then hosting a fundraiser for the newly homeless, with a speech about how they’ll miss having a mortgage.

Redefining Purpose Without a Price Tag

Listen to the audiobook "Nexus" by Yuval Noah Harari for free by clicking HERE.

If meaning is truly the concern, then let’s build a society where creativity, connection, and care work are valued as much as profit. As Yuval Noah Harari notes:

The greatest danger of technological unemployment is not the loss of income, but the loss of meaning.

But meaning doesn’t evaporate with the end of traditional jobs. It evaporates when people are denied the tools to shape their lives with dignity. The Universal Basic Income isn’t a threat to purpose—it’s a chance to democratize it.

Final Thought: Let's Talk About It

So let us thank our worried billionaires for their unsolicited concern. But forgive us if we choose to redefine meaning on our own terms—without punching a clock or earning their paternalistic approval.

After all, purpose is too important to be left in the hands of the already comfortable.

Join the Conversation

What do you think? Is UBI a path to laziness or liberation? Would people really lose purpose without traditional jobs, or finally gain the freedom to pursue it?

Comment below, share your thoughts, and join the debate. Because the future of work and meaning is something we should all have a say in.