Dear Son or Daughter of Tomorrow,
I have no idea how old you are as you read this. Maybe you're still school. Maybe you've already tried and failed to find what older generations call a "normal job." Perhaps you're working three gigs just to make rent, or you're living with your parents because there's no affordable housing left anywhere.
But here's what I do know: You're part of the nearly 3 billion people under 25 on this planet, and you're staring down the barrel of a future that looks nothing like what your parents and teachers prepared you for.
This isn't just another "the world is changing" lecture. This is me grabbing you by the shoulders and telling you the unvarnished truth that nobody in power wants to admit:
The concept of "jobs" as we've known them is ending, and it's happening faster than anyone is willing to say out loud.
You need to know this. Not to frighten you, but to free you.
Let me explain...
The System Was Never Designed For You
First, let's be clear about something. The "job system" you were told to prepare for – the one where you go to school, get good grades, maybe attend college, then find a stable career that pays you enough to live a decent life – that system wasn't designed for fulfillment, purpose, or even basic fairness.
It was engineered to serve industrial capital.
Don't take my word for it. Look at the data:
McKinsey & Company, hardly a radical organization, projects that up to 30% of all work hours globally will be automated by 2030. That's less than five years from now.
Goldman Sachs estimates AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs worldwide.
A Resume Builder survey found that 23.5% of US companies have already replaced workers with AI tools like ChatGPT. And 44% of companies using or planning to use AI expect layoffs in 2024.
The writing isn't just on the wall. It's flashing in neon lights.
"But new jobs will be created!" the techno-optimists cry. Sure, some will. AI Trainers. Human-Machine Teaming Managers. Generative AI Engineers.
Just not enough. Not nearly enough.
And here's the kicker – it's not just low-skilled, repetitive jobs disappearing. Doctors, lawyers, programmers, designers – the entire professional class is being hollowed out.
I'm telling you this not to depress you, but because knowing the truth is the first step toward genuine liberation.
Two Futures: Dystopia or Liberation
Right now, we're barreling toward one of two futures. And make no mistake – which one we end up with is not predetermined. It depends on what people like you decide to do.
Future A: Digital Feudalism
In this future, the world is owned by a handful of techno-oligarchs. The same people who control the platforms, the AI, the automated factories, and the bioengineered landscapes.
You'll exist at their mercy – renting access to digital spaces, competing for increasingly scarce "human" work, and surviving on whatever meager universal basic income they're willing to provide to prevent outright revolt.
Your data will be mined constantly. Your movements tracked. Your thoughts influenced by algorithms designed to keep you compliant and consuming. Privacy will be a luxury for the ultra-wealthy. For everyone else, constant surveillance will be the price of admission to society.
Autonomous systems will enforce the rules set by those at the top. The algorithms will decide who gets opportunities and who doesn't, usually reinforcing historical patterns of privilege and exploitation.
This is a world where your value as a human is determined by how useful you are to the machines and their owners.
Future B: Collective Liberation Through Radical Reimagining
But there's another possibility. One where we use these technologies for liberation rather than control.
This is the world of Project Miracle – a journey toward a civilization reborn in the light of the sun. A world where we harness direct sun energy and advanced biotechnologies to create abundance for all, not just profits for a few.
In this future, we embrace the Heliogenesis philosophy – creating a regenerative civilization that prioritizes life, care, and harmony with nature over-extraction and exploitation.
Human intelligence is enhanced not to compete with machines but to reconnect with our deeper humanity. We reclaim the commons from private ownership, building new economic models based on stewardship rather than extraction.
We develop material sovereignty through decentralized, solar-powered production systems that meet human needs without destroying the planet.
In this future, your worth isn't tied to your productivity or your ability to generate profit. It comes from your capacity to create, to care, to connect, and to contribute to the collective flourishing of life.
Which future sounds better to you?
Job-Dependent Society → Regenerative Materials → Debt-Free Homes → Local Systems → Purpose Beyond Jobs → Heliogenic Civilization
Finding Purpose Beyond Jobs
Look, I'm not going to sugarcoat this. The transition we're entering will be disruptive and at times painful. Systems of power don't transform without resistance.
But here's the opportunity hidden within the collapse of the old way: you get to create new forms of purpose that aren't tied to the soul-crushing wage labor that defined previous generations.
For your generation, "purpose" will replace "employment." And that's a profound upgrade.
Instead of extractive work that depletes resources and exploits humans, you'll engage in regenerative activity that replenishes the earth and nourishes communities.
Let me give you some concrete examples:
Blue carbon projects are restoring mangroves, seagrass beds, and salt marshes – ecosystems that sequester carbon at rates up to 10 times higher than terrestrial forests. This work can't be fully automated because it requires deep ecological knowledge, careful monitoring, and connection to local communities.
Heliogenesis biomaterial economies are creating entirely new ways of growing what we need instead of extracting it from the earth. Imagine buildings grown from mycelium, electronics based on biological/ neuromorphic computation, and medicine derived from engineered microorganisms – all powered by the sun's abundance.
Material sovereignty through decentralized production means communities controlling their own means of fabrication. Local bioreactors producing medicines, food, and materials. Solar-powered micromanufacturing hubs making what people actually need, not what maximizes quarterly profits.
Project Miracle's approach to community empowerment puts the tools for abundance directly in people's hands, creating resilient local systems that aren't vulnerable to the whims of distant corporations or collapsing supply chains.
None of this is science fiction. All of it is already happening, just unevenly distributed and not yet at scale.
Your challenge – and your opportunity – is to find ways to contribute to these emerging systems while the old one crumbles around us.
Tools for the Transition
So how do you prepare for this radically different future? Not by following the conventional path, that's for sure.
Instead, develop what the Hard Imagination manifesto calls for: the capacity to envision futures beyond what venture capitalists and tech billionaires are selling you.
Build skills for mutual thriving rather than market competition. Learn how systems work so you can help transform them. Understand enough about technology to use it for liberation rather than being used by it.
Specifically:
Ecological Knowledge: Learn how living systems function. Study permaculture, regenerative agriculture, and ecosystem restoration. The future belongs to those who understand biology, not just code.
Community Building: Practice creating genuine connection in a world designed to isolate us. Learn conflict resolution, democratic decision-making, and the art of commoning – managing shared resources for collective benefit.
Technological Literacy: Understand automation, AI, and digital systems well enough to use them rather than be used by them. You don't need to be a programmer, but you need to comprehend how these systems shape our reality.
Material Skills: Know how to make, repair, grow, and build. The capacity to work with your hands to transform physical reality will never go out of style, even in a highly automated world.
Inner Development: Cultivate your attention, emotional intelligence, and capacity for meaning-making. In a world of algorithmic manipulation, knowing your own mind becomes a revolutionary act.
These are the tools that will help you navigate the transition between worlds. They're not the kind of skills most schools teach, but they're what you'll need far more than another standardized test score or resume bullet point.
From Collapse to Rebirth
Now let's talk about what's possible on the other side of this transformation.
The end of jobs doesn't have to mean the end of meaningful work or financial security. It could instead mark the beginning of genuine freedom – the freedom to pursue what truly matters.
Imagine a society built on Heliogenesis principles:
Life-Centered Design: Creating systems that enhance life rather than extract from it. Technologies developed not to maximize profit but to maximize flourishing.
Relationships of Care: Shifting from transactional economies to relational ones. Building networks based on trust, generosity, and mutual support rather than exploitation.
Collective Agency: Working together to shape the future rather than having it imposed from above. Collaborative decision-making about technologies and social systems.
SUN-Powered Abundance: Using the virtually limitless energy of the sun to meet our material needs while staying within planetary boundaries.
This isn't utopian thinking – it's practical necessity. The current system is hitting ecological and social limits that cannot be ignored. The question isn't whether it will transform, but how, and who will benefit.
Three billion young people under 25 deserve better than the crumbs from a failing system. You deserve the chance to create something more beautiful, just, and alive than what came before.
A Call to Action
So what should you do right now, today, as you navigate this unprecedented transition?
Reject the false promises of traditional career paths. Don't mortgage your future to prepare for jobs that won't exist. Instead, develop adaptability and the capacity to learn continuously.
Find your community of co-creators. You cannot navigate this transition alone. Connect with others who are building alternatives, whether through local projects or global networks. I would love to help finding peers. If interested I will set up a Discord.
Start building heliogenic systems now. Don't wait for permission or perfect conditions. Begin growing food, generating renewable energy, creating mutual aid networks – whatever you can do where you are.
Join Project Miracle's journey toward a SUN-powered world. Become part of the movement to create a civilization that runs on sunlight, aligns with natural cycles, and prioritizes life over profit.
Embrace both technological skills and deep ecological knowledge. The future belongs not to those who code or those who garden, but to those who understand how both can work together in service of life.
Remember that purpose comes from relationship, not production. Your value is not determined by what you produce or how much money you make. It comes from how you relate to others, to the living world, and to yourself.
The path ahead won't be easy. There will be resistance from those who benefit from the current system. There will be confusion, false starts, and hard lessons.
But there's also an unprecedented opportunity for those willing to see clearly and act courageously.
The end of jobs isn't the end of purpose. It's the beginning of something more authentically human than what industrial capitalism allowed.
Your generation stands at a crossroads unlike any other in history. You face challenges of staggering complexity – but also the chance to participate in the birth of a new world.
Choose wisely. Choose collectively. Choose life.
With solidarity and hope,
Malte
PS: I wrote this article in less than 2.5 hours. Only 15 months ago, I would have needed 7-8 hours. That's how fast things are changing. The tools of creation and communication are being democratized even as traditional jobs disappear. Use this acceleration wisely.