This Isn't Easy Either | AI Survival Diary #34
AI Survival Diary Series | #34
This isn't easy either
In post #33, I landed on this thought: maybe, even in the AI era, moving people's hearts is the one thing that survives.
No matter how much AI can produce, the one who watches it, likes it, chooses it, is still a person.
So I figured the ability to move people might become more important than ever.
Then a few days ago, I was watching a video by a Buddhist monk, Beopryun Sunim, and heard something like this.
A lot of people want to make a living by writing, or by writing a book — but the number who actually manage it is a very small few.
So, he said, keep what you love as what you love, and find your living somewhere separate.
Listening to that, something in me felt oddly uncomfortable.
Because for me, that word "book" was just "writing."
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I'm someone who writes, too.
Over a year into this series, I've been constantly wrestling with how to make a living in the AI era.
At first, AI scared me.
What if it replaces my work?
Then I actually started using it, and my thinking shifted a little.
Used well, maybe it could just be a tool that lightens my work.
But then I thought further —
if AI keeps advancing, maybe the amount of work available to people, period, starts shrinking.
So I kept asking: then what's left for people?
And in the last post, I arrived at "moving people's hearts."
But this time, I'm realizing — that's not easy either.
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Writing something that actually moves people.
It sounds good, in theory.
But try it, and it's genuinely hard.
Something I thought was solid gets no response at all. Something I posted with no real expectations gets more of a reaction than I expected.
Bit by bit, I started seeing why people stop to read one thing and scroll right past another.
But knowing that doesn't mean I can actually make it happen.
And what I actually learned here wasn't really about content at all.
Loving something doesn't automatically make it an economic activity.
I confirmed that with my own hands.
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And then a thought hit me, out of nowhere.
"So what do I actually do?"
Should I keep going with this?
If I keep at it a bit longer, will I eventually be able to write things that move people?
Or should I leave what I love as what I love, and go find my living somewhere else entirely?
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Honestly, I think I've been searching for something ever since I started this series.
I studied AI. I applied it to my own work. I thought about which jobs might survive. I thought about what abilities humans would still need. I even looked into basic income.
But the more I learn, the less this turns into a simple answer — it actually gets more complicated.
One thing seems like a solution, until I actually dig into it.
Another thing looks possible, until reality throws up some other problem.
The more I look, the less this feels like a question with an easy answer.
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Still, I think I need to keep looking.
Even without an answer right now, even not knowing what world is coming —
at this point in my 40s and 50s, thinking about it a little, even without a clear direction, feels better than not thinking about it at all.
Maybe what I'm actually doing here isn't finding the right answer.
Maybe it's finding, one by one, the things that don't work.
This one isn't easy either.
That one turns out to be harder than expected.
And through that, bit by bit, I get a clearer picture of reality.
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Maybe that, on its own, counts as some kind of progress.
Knowing that a world where AI does most of the work is genuinely possible.
Knowing there's no guarantee my current kind of work stays around.
Knowing that loving something doesn't mean it'll pay the bills.
And knowing that moving people's hearts isn't something just anyone can easily do, either.
Sitting with that reality, a little at a time, now, ahead of time.
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Should I keep writing. Should I find something else. Should I study AI more.
Or should I start seriously thinking about social systems — basic income, pensions, that kind of thing.
I still don't have a clear direction.
But there's one thing I think I know.
Facing reality suddenly, one day, with no warning, is worse than thinking it through a little now, ahead of time.
Thinking about it in advance probably won't change the future.
But at least, when that time actually comes, it won't be something I'm hearing for the first time.
Because I'll have been thinking about it for a long while already.
How does someone in their 40s or 50s make a living in the AI era.
I still don't have an answer.
But I'll keep looking anyway.
Maybe the starting point isn't finding the answer — it's getting a little more honest about the reality first.
