The Enclosure Movement Privatized Land — Here’s What It Foreshadows About AI
The world is on the cusp of the next great digital revolution. Like the industrial revolutions of the past, today’s digital revolutions represent a dramatic change in the methods of production, the meaning of work, and how society is structured.
The change that’s underway redefines the value proposition of human labor altogether. For the first time in history, the human mind will compete with machines — not just their brawn. This will change the role of humans as economic participants in the economy as a whole, reshaping society as we know it.
With the advent of inorganic forms of labor, such as artificial intelligence, humans will have to compete in a labor market that no longer demands its labor. What will become of societies, governments, and civilizations when the fullness of this digital revolution comes to fruition?
History reveals that humans have been here before. During the Middle Ages, leading up to the advent of capitalism, society was organized around small manors where peasants toiled at the behest of their lords. While peasants didn’t own the land they worked on, manors came with communal plots of land they could use to grow their own crops or graze livestock. Communal land made it possible for peasants to generate surplus for themselves beyond their…
