"2 years to escape the underclass" was AI industry fear marketing to boost valuations
Signalman23 · x · 2026-11-01
frankdegods argues in hindsight that the "2 years to escape the permanent underclass" narrative was propagated by the AI industry to accelerate valuation growth through fear. Terms like "hyperscaler," "buildout," and "bottleneck" were designed to create FOMO — "this makes engineers more efficient" doesn't raise trillions, but "there will be no more engineers" might. The silver lining of the financial carnage: everyone has time, and anyone saying otherwise has something to sell.
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