We are entering a period where the meaning of “work” will change more in ten years than it has in the last hundred.

Artificial Intelligence.
Automation.
Robotics.
Algorithmic management.
Universal Basic Income.
Post-scarcity economics.

The Great Awakening.

These are no longer science fiction concepts.

They are converging realities.

The real question is not:

“Will jobs disappear?”

The real question is:

“Who will we become when they do?”

Because the future of work is not an economic issue first.

It is an identity issue.

Phase One: The Displacement Era

In the short term, we will see:

  • Massive role compression

  • AI performing 70–90% of knowledge tasks

  • Robotics replacing physical labour

  • Fewer humans required per output

  • Entire middle layers of management flattened

  • Entry-level roles disappearing

  • High productivity with low human input

This will destabilise identity.

For centuries we have answered the question:

“Who are you?”

With:

“I am a lawyer.”
“I am a teacher.”
“I am a banker.”
“I am a marketer.”
“I am a technician.”

When roles shrink, identity collapses.

This is why anxiety is rising before mass displacement even fully arrives.

Phase Two: The Safety Net Era

Governments will eventually respond.

Whether through:

  • Universal Basic Income

  • Citizen dividends

  • Resource-based credits

  • Reduced working weeks

  • State-backed retraining

  • Public AI infrastructure

There will likely be some form of baseline economic stabilisation.

The reason is simple:

High unemployment plus high productivity equals political instability.

UBI or something similar becomes pragmatic, not ideological.

This may create something humanity has never experienced at scale:

Income without employment.  (Elon Musk is already flagging up this probability!)

And that will trigger the deepest identity crisis yet.

What Happens When You Don’t Have to Work?

For centuries survival demanded labour.

Now imagine:

Food is abundant.
Shelter is subsidised.
Energy is cheap.
Healthcare is AI-driven.
Transport is automated.

You wake up.

And you do not have to work.

The question becomes:

Who are you without necessity?

This is where identity becomes everything.

Three Possible Futures of Work

1. The Drift Future (Identity Collapse)

Without identity stabilisation, many may:

  • Numb through digital distraction

  • Sink into addiction

  • Compete for artificial status games

  • Seek meaning through extremism

  • Attach to tribal identities

  • Lose direction

When survival pressure disappears, unprocessed identity fragmentation surfaces.

Abundance without identity creates chaos.

2. The Control Future (Algorithmic Identity)

If people do not define identity consciously,
algorithms will define it for them.

AI may:

  • Recommend career paths

  • Suggest relationships

  • Predict behaviour

  • Shape preferences

  • Customise worldview bubbles

  • Influence moral choices

The danger is subtle:

Identity outsourced to machines.

Efficiency increases.
Sovereignty decreases.

3. The Creator Future (Identity-Led Contribution)

The third possibility is the most hopeful and exciting to me.

When survival pressure reduces, humanity may finally:

  • Create from curiosity rather than necessity

  • Build art without commercial pressure

  • Explore philosophy and science

  • Serve communities voluntarily

  • Innovate ethically

  • Develop cross-disciplinary depth

  • Cultivate wisdom

Work shifts from survival → expression.

Income shifts from necessity → stability.

Contribution becomes identity-led.

This is the future our Identity Awakening System quietly prepares people for.

In an Abundance Economy, Identity Becomes the Currency

When scarcity reduces, what becomes scarce?

  • Authenticity

  • Wisdom

  • Moral clarity

  • Presence

  • Discernment

  • Emotional stability

  • Meaning

These cannot be automated.

These are identity traits.

The future economy may reward:

  • Taste

  • Judgment

  • Integrity

  • Storytelling

  • Deep synthesis

  • Emotional intelligence

  • Conscious leadership

Surface skills flatten.

Depth differentiates.

The Real Future of Work

Work will not disappear.

It will transform into:

  • Creation

  • Guidance

  • Design

  • Care (although this could be automated to a great degree.)

  • Meaning-making

  • Community building

  • System architecture

  • Ethical oversight

  • Identity mentoring

Some will choose minimal effort and basic living.

Others will build identity-driven contribution systems.

In a world where machines produce,
humans may rediscover purpose.

Why Identity Awakening Matters Now

If abundance arrives without identity:

We drift.

If automation arrives without identity:

We panic.

If UBI arrives without identity:

We dissolve into distraction.

But if identity stabilises first:

Work becomes expression.

Money becomes stabilisation.

AI becomes amplifier.

Automation becomes liberation.

That is the difference.

IAS is not about surviving employment collapse.

It is about preparing identity for a post-employment world.

The Paradox

For decades, we believed freedom meant:

More money.
More speed.
More efficiency.
More output.

But the coming era may reveal:

Freedom without identity feels empty.

Identity without freedom feels trapped.

The future of work requires both.

A Question for You

If your income were guaranteed tomorrow…

Who would you become?

That question is not hypothetical.

It is approaching.

And the answer depends entirely on identity.

The IMMachines Position

We are not preparing people to hustle harder.

We are preparing people to stabilise identity before the structure shifts.

Because once the structure shifts,
only the internally coherent will thrive.

The future belongs to creators.

But identity decides your path.