Is This the Future We Were Promised?

Is This the Future We Were Promised?

Unemployment, which is increasingly becoming one of the biggest and most pressing problems of our time, will not stop if left unchecked and may even escalate into social crises and national security threats for states. Youth unemployment, a major source of instability in many African countries, has already demonstrated that people do not hesitate to overthrow regimes that are either incapable of addressing this issue or unwilling to do so.

Today, this problem is no longer confined to developing countries. It is becoming a serious concern in the so called “West,” the “first world” of the Transatlantic region. Robotics and artificial intelligence, developing at a much faster pace than anticipated, are set to accelerate this process by reducing labour demand while simultaneously lowering production costs. This may be good news for producers, but it is undeniably bad news for workers. If large segments of society cannot find employment or secure stable incomes, their ability to consume will shrink, and a system built on consumption cannot survive unchanged.

The real question, then, is not whether this system will change, but what will replace it. Will a universal wage be introduced? Will the role of robots and artificial intelligence in production be restricted? Or will artificial jobs be created simply to keep humans employed? Whatever the outcome, such transformations can only be implemented by governments, since private companies have little incentive to voluntarily undermine profit-driven efficiency.

Regardless of whether this problem is resolved, I believe many people living in the “West” will increasingly seek opportunities abroad, hoping to find work elsewhere using their education and experience. Yet the reality is that only a very small number will succeed. One of the main reasons is the rapid population growth in many destination countries, which limits opportunities even further. However harsh it may sound, almost every indicator suggests a future decline in the global human population. I believe that the only long-term escape from these crises may lie in expanding beyond Earth itself, migrating to new worlds, much like our ancestors once did.

When combined with the housing crisis, unemployment creates the perfect conditions for social unrest. Rising income inequality and growing class consciousness do not make people passive; they make them aware, vocal, and more demanding of their rights.

I want to share a personal anecdote. During a summer job in the United States, I became friends with a Turkish libertarian who passionately defended the free market. In our debates, he would argue that the state should withdraw entirely and that private markets could provide a fairer and more prosperous society. I always approached these claims with scepticism. Even back then, when job and housing markets were far less strained than today, I believed there was no real limit to what large corporations would do in pursuit of profit.

I still remember the mocking laughter when I described myself as a “social democrat.” Yet recently, when I reconnected with those same “libertarian” and “liberal” friends, they admitted that they now better understand people who vote for socialist parties. That moment confirmed something I had long felt.

Not because I wanted to be proven right, but because I had always advocated for policies grounded in reason and aimed at social benefit. The gap between the future I once envisioned and the reality now unfolding has left me, and many of my peers, deeply disappointed. It has led us to ask a simple but unsettling question: Is this the future we deserve after all those years of education?