Social Divisions, Then and Now

This incessant chatter about two-tier policing, as preposterous as it is, has me thinking of other not-so-imaginary social divisions, for such separators have existed for years. While homosexuality was illegal, it was tolerated among the upper classes, as was adultery. Meanwhile, for the working classes, such ‘sins’ were as unspeakable as they were uncommon – such was the hypocrisy of the era.

The Working Class and the Four-Day Week

I am reminded of this dichotomy whenever the topic turns to working from home, work-life balance, and the four-day week. For most working-class wage slaves, such concepts are as relevant as clogs for dogs.

A Picture Editor’s Eye-Opening Moment

This inability to grasp the plight of the working man reminds me of a morning editorial conference in an earlier life. As a newly minted Picture Editor, and thus part of the management team of a then-popular left-wing national newspaper, I sat in on a discussion about why the poor ate so badly.

The Watch Test

With impeccable upper-middle-class logic, they reasoned that fresh fruit and vegetables were cheap – presumably in their local Waitrose. They were perplexed, to say the least, as to why the poor would instead choose to eat ‘expensive’ takeaway food.

I expanded my argument, explaining that the only time many people in such circumstances found themselves near fruit and veg – fresh, canned, dried, frozen, or otherwise – was when they were in their exorbitant and eye-wateringly expensive local shop topping up the dongle of their prepayment meter. Cue bewildered looks all around.

The Price of Wisdom

On the left arm of each of the nine or ten heads of department in attendance was a nice, shiny watch – nothing unusual about that. But there are watches, and there are WATCHES. Whether hand-me-downs, family heirlooms, or on-trend power pieces, had these timepieces found their way into the hands of my fellow convenience store customers, they would have inevitably been pawned – not out of greed, but need – each one representing a fortune beyond imagination.

A Futuristic Divide

Fast-forward to today, and I’m sure that across boardrooms and editorial offices, similar suits with similar opinions of themselves are again chewing the fat – only now, the watches are far more expensive, and those thoughts are even less relevant to the poor.

The Future of Work: A Disappearing Act

We are rapidly approaching an AI event horizon for those jobs. We knew it was going to happen but with the arrival of Deepseek, it’s redefined all those Silicon Valley cost-to-scale calculations – so only now it’s going to happen faster and here’s the kicker – much, much cheaper.

The Cost of Convenience

One of the things those with money love almost as much as cash in the bank is a bargain. Driven invariably by the hands of accountants who again wear those watches and powered by that engine of negative growth – the desire to reduce costs at all costs.

The Coming Automation Wave

They are betting the farm that AI, coupled with the arrival of effective autonomous vehicles, automation in the form of cost-effective customer service robots, and virtual customer service call centre chatbots, will remove costly humans from the loop. Then, there will not just be no working from home – but no working, full stop.

A Wry Smile at the Future

I may be wrong, for if there’s one thing futurologists have taught us, it’s that predicting the future is almost impossible anyway. But perhaps that’s missing the point. As William Gibson may or may not have said, “The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.”

The Genie’s Escape

So, you know what makes me laugh – not a humorous chortle, but a wry smile, the same as watching Slim Pickens exit the bomber in Dr. Strangelove? It’s this:

Now they have let the genie out of the bottle, watching them scramble to stuff it back in will be priceless. Because after AI has finished devouring the working classes, it’s coming for the middle classes too – and then nobody apart from a few billionaires will be able to afford a flash watch.

Just a footnote but Mark Zuckerberg wore $900,000 Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 watch when he announced that Meta Platforms would ditch its third-party fact-checkers and recommend more political content across its social networks.