The Once and Future History of Knowledge Work

The future of knowledge work may be uncertain, but we have a say in how AI reshapes our lives and livelihoods. It’s easy to feel dwarfed by the pace of technological change, to imagine that the future of work is something that happens to us, rather than something we have the power to shape.

the value of work increasingly hinges not on traditional labor but on how we allocate scarce resources—time, attention, and focus. In this new paradigm, the question becomes less about what AI can do and more about how we choose to use it, what we allow it to replace, and what we choose to preserve as uniquely human.