In the future, only creative people will survive. There will be no jobs. Even art could be better done by robots and AI. But humans can still be creative. And they can find purpose in creating art or music or businesses or hobbies. Anyone who is not creative will essentially be a human robot (but a less productive version of the actual robots).

What makes humans human is creativity and imagination. Everybody has the capacity to be creative. You see creativity and imagination in all children, but it’s drilled out of people as they grow older and are forced to get a job and become a cog in the machine—a human robot. But there will be no forced jobs in the future; necessary labor will be provided by actual robots.

The only thing worth teaching in schools may be creativity and critical thinking. Math can be done by computers. Facts can be looked up online. But creativity is invaluable. It needs to be fostered at a young age. In the future, the only human skill that will be valuable is creativity.

You may think AI is creative because it can create art now and is continually getting better. But with generative AI, the AI is more of a craftsman or a tool. The human who has the creative idea of what to make art about is the true creative force. The prompter is the artist, just as the photographer is the artist, despite the camera doing most of the work in generating the physical image.

There is a flood of AI slop being produced, which tarnishes the artistic value of AI art as a whole. But the people producing AI slop are not creative. Creative people can use AI to make art infused with imagination and artistic worth.

Creative people can never be replaced by AI because they can always find new ways to use AI to become even more creative. So if you want to survive in the future, foster your creativity. Instead of getting depressed over how much AI can do—get excited about how much more you can do with AI.

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ICYMI: Without giving too many spoilers, my science fiction mystery novella Work for Idle Hands explores these same themes in depth.