With all the talk about AI lately, including its widely-reported promise of eliminating 300 million jobs (which, oddly, is touted as great news), I was reminded of a scene in my book Solid State. Here it is, for your reading pleasure, and if you enjoy it, perhaps consider getting the entire novel!
Tobias Huang walked up to the counter and grabbed both of the drinks he had ordered. Even though it was late in the day, Philz was packed with customers, mostly Stanford students and a few local startup types who just wanted a change of scenery from their nearby offices.
“Here’s your chai”, Tobias said as he put the drink on the table. Before he sat down, Tobias glanced around and noticed every patron there had their face buried in one kind of screen or another. Even though Ethan Wesley was running for one of California’s Senate seats, not a single person at the coffee shop seemed to notice he was there. It was clear that Tobias had his work cut out for him. His candidate was quite plainly anonymous.
In spite of more efficient ways of brainstorming, Ethan still had his reliable nine by twelve inch paper notepad and ballpoint pen in front of him as he mulled over the topics he wanted to cover in his speech at the Marriott. Ethan was muttering to himself, almost inaudibly, “Learn, think, grow, and discover. Grow and discover. Information. Information as the basis of power…….”
Tobias didn’t want to spend his time simply listening to his candidate quietly kick ideas around, so he spoke up. “Come on, this place is only open for another fifteen minutes. Let’s talk. You can do your notepad stuff at home”
Ethan took a sip of his chai and replied, “I think I want to talk about phasing out UBI. The whole work with dignity thing. Universal Basic Income was a fatal mistake, I think.”
Tobias said, “OK, sure, maybe. Keep in mind this is a San Francisco audience you’re addressing. Pulling away social safety nets isn’t going to get you any votes.” Tobias tried to take a sip of his own drink and then decided to wait for it to cool off, so he put it back on the table and added, “So what do you think you want to say?”
“Well, I thought I’d start off with the basics,” Ethan answered. “Really get to the core of what it means to be a human, what it means to have a life worth living. I was going to talk about the body and the mind. Real fundamentals.”
“Yeah, OK, good, let’s hear it,” said Tobias, leaning forward on the table.
“Well, what do we think of when it comes to the body? What does the body do? Fight, love, strengthen, compete. And the mind? Learn, think, grow, and discover. And what is over half the population doing now? Thanks to the government, they’re just wasting away. They’re living inside a system that pledges to take care of their needs, but doesn’t allow them to take care of their spirit. You see what I’m getting at?”
Tobias had been paying attention, but he shook his head. “It’s pretty artsy-fartsy. What else ya got?”
“Just hear me out on this, Toby. What’s that line from Seneca? Excellence leading to something? Excellence dying…….”
Tobias knew the quote and said, “Excellence withers without an adversary.”
“Right! So without the adversary of challenge, without the adversary of striving, struggling, trying to get good at something that doesn’t come easy, people don’t have the opportunity to reach for that excellence!”
“Ethan, look, most of the people in this state didn’t grow up in your world. With all due respect, you’ve been living in a bubble your entire life. Private schools. Fencing lessons. A fat salary before you were even old enough to buy a beer. I mean, the kinds of people you grew up with could strive for the whole Maslow self-actualization thing, but a lot of people were born into shitty lives. They’re not going to live by some Seneca quote. They’ve never even heard of the guy. You need to understand that in the baseball game of life, you were born on third base.”
Having heard that quip from Tobias too many times already, Wesley shook his head and said, “Toby, it’s because I grew up in that bubble that I can recognize what’s going on! I realize I’ve had it good, but look, just because a person knows they’ll never starve to death doesn’t mean they’ve got a decent life.”
Wesley popped the lid off his drink, tilted the cup all the way back, and let the sprig of fresh mint leaves slide into his mouth so he could start chewing them. Tobias had seen him do this every single time, but he never bothered mentioning how weird he thought it was. After swallowing the mint leaves, Wesley picked up the thought: “I refuse to believe that people were designed to sit idle. I realize some people are more industrious than others, but I seriously don’t think any meaningful portion of the population would prefer to spend their lives away as a shit and piss factory until they die and have their existence mean absolutely nothing!”
Since Ethan’s voice had been getting louder as he spoke, some of the patrons glanced over to see what the racket was all about and what customer was bloviating. Wesley had a way of getting carried away with a point to the exclusion of staying civil. Tobias cautioned him, his face flush with embarrassment: “Take it easy, will you? I know what you’re saying, but we just need to make sure we craft the message properly for the audience. Jesus!”
Wesley lowered his voice and continued, “Toby, these people coming to the fundraiser aren’t idiots. I think they’ll respect what I have to say. All I’m really talking about here is human dignity. A long time ago, people occupied themselves with work and survival, whereas now life’s purpose is just to prevent boredom and seek out distraction. It’s fuckin’ sad, man.”
The campaign manager rubbed his eyes with weariness, but he kept listening. He knew some of this was going to be important, so he stayed silent while his candidate kept going.
“People are scared shitless about being bored, or being forgotten,” Wesley continued. “To me, that’s a bankrupt existence. Too many people are born into a system where it’s just too tempting to take the path of least resistance, and they get stuck there until they die. What I’m trying to say is there should be a difference between a social safety net and a spider’s web.”
Tobias stopped rubbing his eyes. “Hey, that’s good! Write that down!”
“What? The spider web thing? It’s not that good.”
“Write it down!” Tobias repeated, tapping at the notepad.
Ethan reluctantly jotted a few words on his notepad to keep the peace. He lowered the tone of his voice a little more and said, “There have been so many jobs eliminated in this country. Bus drivers, assembly line workers, fast food. I mean, we’re talking about millions and millions of people who don’t get to work anymore. I know those weren’t glamorous positions, but honest to God, Toby, I believe down to my bone that a person who actually earned a check has a much easier time looking in the mirror than someone who knows the government is just depositing subsistence pay into their bank account.”
“You’ve got a lot more faith in humanity than I do, Eth,” said Tobias, finally taking a big sip of his lukewarm latte.
“Fine! If that’s how I come off, maybe we can win this thing.” He picked up his empty cup, stood up, and headed toward the door as Tobias stayed behind, slowly spinning his mug on the big wooden table and smiling quietly to himself.
