Millennials: the luck of two worlds and the precarity of one
AI will eliminate work in 3 years and master's degrees don't pay the bills. Millennials: the most fortunate generation or the great swindled one?
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Born without the internet, came of age in precarity: the millennial paradox
The idea that millennials are the most fortunate generation in history rests on a single advantage: having been born straddling the analog and digital worlds. Nothing more. The cohort now around 40 and 50 years old studied without a computer, landed their first job through a newspaper ad, and suddenly found themselves in an economy where AI promises to eliminate work within three years.
That privilege, however, belongs to the developed West. In North Korea, sub-Saharan Africa or rural India there is no parallel world; there is a single reality, one of violence and lack of opportunity. And even in rich countries, the meritocratic promise is crumbling: master's degrees are losing value, as shown by the sports events master's that doesn't pay the bills, and depression looms as the other side of a generation educated for the impossible.
So the question remains in the air: fortunate generation or swindled generation? Perhaps the only certainty is that this is the first cohort to reach maturity during a technological revolution, and it is the one that has to foot the bill. The story of the best of both worlds may simply be the worst of none.
The idea that millennials are the most fortunate generation in history rests on a single advantage: having been born straddling the analog and digital worlds. Nothing more. The cohort now around 40 and 50 years old studied without a computer, landed their first job through a newspaper ad, and suddenly found themselves in an economy where AI promises to eliminate work within three years.
That privilege, however, belongs to the developed West. In North Korea, sub-Saharan Africa or rural India there is no parallel world; there is a single reality, one of violence and lack of opportunity. And even in rich countries, the meritocratic promise is crumbling: master's degrees are losing value, as shown by the sports events master's that doesn't pay the bills, and depression looms as the other side of a generation educated for the impossible.
So the question remains in the air: fortunate generation or swindled generation? Perhaps the only certainty is that this is the first cohort to reach maturity during a technological revolution, and it is the one that has to foot the bill. The story of the best of both worlds may simply be the worst of none.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (13 replies).
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