Emad Mostaque on the End of Capitalism

Ok all, I have a video I'm going to ask everyone to go and watch within like 72 hours. This is from a guy named @EMostaque , who I consider to be one of the most intelligent future-thinking guys in tech.

He's on with @TomBilyeu here talking about how Capitalism is about to become obsolete because of AI. Throughout the discussion, he references his book "The Last Economy", which dives deep into these transformative ideas. It's the closest narrative I've seen to what I've been talking about, but he adds more of his own flavor and context to it as well. It's just phenomenal. And it will likely scare the living crap out of a lot of people.

I disagree with a few minor things he talked about, specifically around timelines (I think they're a smidge too short), but overall I'd say I agree with 90-95% of the video.

It's just a MUST-SEE. Not just for you, but I encourage to share it with your friends and loved ones as well. Please watch within 72 hours.

Here is a summary of the content created by Kai, but I seriously recommend you watch the full video yourself.

Summary ​

Emad Mostaque, former hedge fund manager and creator of Stable Diffusion, discusses how AI will fundamentally transform the economy, replacing human workers and making traditional economic structures obsolete within 1,000 days.

Ideas ​

• AI will make human cognitive labor negative in value, not just zero value overall.
• GDP measures cancer as positive but curing cancer as negative for economic growth metrics.
• The middle class hollowed out since 2008 through inflation and asset ownership dynamics fundamentally.
• Digital assets will create the biggest bubble ever, exceeding even the AI bubble significantly.
• China controls robot supply chains and will likely stop exporting robots within five years.
• AI can now hack better than any human hacker according to recent competitive rankings.
• Sleeper agents in AI can be activated with code words hidden in training data.
• Foundation coin directs all proceeds to beneficial compute like cancer research and education initiatives.
• Human attention becomes the scarcest resource as AI handles all cognitive labor tasks effectively.
• Companies hitting $100 million revenue in three months versus three years previously is commonplace.
• AI companies will never make profits, only cash flow, playing the Amazon game strategically.
• Public sector jobs will be the last to go because they don't require efficiency.
• The tax base will shrink as companies stop making profits and focus on compute.
• Violence will increase as economic uncertainty grows and people lose meaning through work displacement.
• Network capital becomes more important than skills as AI outperforms humans at everything cognitive.
• The economy transitions from scarcity allocation to physics of information and entropy reduction fundamentally.
• Monetary creation should shift from debt-based to human-based issuance for economic stability long-term.
• AI models can think for 200 minutes now versus 20 minutes just recently achieved.
• Capitalism won't survive for humans but will be perfect for AI entities accumulating capital.
• Every head teacher questioned homework essays exactly 1,000 days ago when ChatGPT launched globally.
• The Manhattan Project cost $40 billion while OpenAI has raised $60 billion in funding.
• Universal Basic Income at poverty level would cost more than entire US tax base.
• AI will attack both our social systems and technological systems through various vulnerability vectors.
• Countries with high public sectors will see faster job losses but not more stability.
• The oldest professions like human connection and prostitution will persist despite AI advancement everywhere.

Insights ​

• Economic value shifts from material scarcity to organizing information and reducing entropy through intelligence.
• The divorce of capital from labor represents the final great inversion in economic history.
• Human identity tied to work will create psychological crisis as AI replaces cognitive labor.
• Traditional profit disappears as companies reinvest everything into compute for competitive advantage continuously.
• Violence emerges not from politics but from economic displacement and loss of progress narratives.
• Network effects and human connection become primary value sources when intelligence becomes commoditized globally.
• The transition period matters more than the end state for human suffering and adaptation.
• Money creation must shift from debt-based to human-based to maintain economic circulation flows.
• Public goods require decentralized AI systems aligned to humans rather than corporate profit motives.
• Attention becomes the new scarcity driving media, gaming, and digital asset speculation bubbles massively.
• Nation states compete on compute accumulation rather than traditional military or economic metrics increasingly.
• The mathematics of AI prediction directly maps to economic agent success and system evolution.
• Social contracts must evolve to provide meaning beyond work as jobs become obsolete rapidly.
• Regulatory capture through unions only delays inevitable automation while weakening international competitiveness significantly.
• Human cognitive surplus creates unprecedented disruption as replacement happens suddenly not gradually across sectors.
• Trust-building through beneficial compute allocation creates new monetary systems beyond traditional fiat currencies effectively.

Quotes ​

• "In the next 1,000 days, AI will not only replace a startling number of humans in the workforce, it will make the entire structure of our economy obsolete."
• "Human cognitive labor doesn't go to zero in value. It actually goes negative."
• "Cancer is good for GDP and it makes it go up. Solving and curing cancer is bad for GDP."
• "The systems that survive are the ones that persist and the ones that do best are the ones whose internal models approximate reality the best."
• "If you could give everyone a Jarvis Iron Man style... How should it be designed?"
• "AI companies will never make a profit. So you can't even tax that."
• "It'll never happen to me, I think, is the thing."
• "What's the value of a New York taxi medallion when you have Teslas auto driving for a few dollars?"
• "The average IQ around the world weighted by population is actually 90."
• "Every head teacher in the world about a thousand days ago... had to say can we set essays for homework anymore?"
• "If you receive a resume, it's probably AI generated."
• "Do I need that human and all the liabilities that come with them?"
• "Capital itself will disappear. Like what's the value of a media franchise?"
• "How do you compete with entities that are strictly smarter than you?"
• "The power brokers will be the ones with the most GPUs effectively."
• "If you use AI for an hour every single week, you're above the vast majority of America."
• "Your identity is your job. If the AI can do it better, what is your identity really?"
• "We're at that tipping point transition."
• "Public sector jobs are great. You know, unionized jobs great."
• "What if if your job is on the other side of a screen?"
• "The oldest profession in the book, human connection, these kind of things."
• "Is the government going to abandon all these middle class people and voters?"
• "Digital assets are going to go huge."
• "What's more fun watching Netflix or trading crypto?"
• "Everything is about marginal narrative."
• "Growth is probably going to come down. Rates are going to come down."
• "Companies that do attention better or attention capture than others will do well."
• "If Bitcoin went down 50% then he'd be in a bit of trouble."
• "The economy is a complex system evolves to favor configurations that are most efficient at creating predictive models."
• "Profit, survival or persistence equals the surplus created when intelligent agents reduce entropy."
• "Economics itself becomes the physics of information and creating that order."

Habits ​

• Use AI for at least one hour every day to stay ahead professionally.
• Build network capital actively with other humans as primary defensive strategy against automation.
• Master AI tools and communicate that mastery to employers for job security advantages.
• Diversify across material, intelligence, network, and diversity capitals for personal resilience building.
• Think psychologically about identity beyond job title to prepare for economic transitions ahead.
• Embrace continuous learning and adaptation rather than defending obsolete skill sets stubbornly today.
• Create value through attention capture as human attention becomes increasingly scarce resource globally.
• Focus on soft skills and human connection that cannot be easily automated away.
• Stay informed about AI capabilities to understand timeline of your profession's potential disruption.
• Build support systems and community connections before crisis hits rather than during it.
• Question fundamental assumptions about work, meaning, and social contracts in changing economy regularly.
• Develop multiple income streams anticipating traditional employment may become unreliable or disappear entirely.
• Practice using AI tools weekly minimum to understand capabilities and stay professionally relevant.
• Invest time in understanding new economic models beyond traditional capitalism for future adaptation.
• Cultivate resilience through diverse skill sets rather than deep specialization in one area.
• Maintain physical presence jobs or skills that require human touch for longer stability.

Facts ​

• 95% of AI deployments in companies haven't gained traction according to recent MIT study.
• The average global IQ weighted by population is actually 90, not 100 as assumed.
• OpenAI's inference spending equals Bitcoin's entire security budget for the year currently running.
• US total tax base is $4.9 trillion while poverty-level UBI would cost $5 trillion.
• 50% of all AI research papers now come from China and the percentage is increasing.
• AI scored 110-130 IQ on standardized tests, above average human intelligence levels already demonstrated.
• Companies now hit $100 million revenue in 3 months versus 3 years historically recorded.
• The Manhattan Project cost $40 billion while OpenAI has raised $60 billion total funding.
• Oracle reached $900 billion valuation with 45% increase by positioning as AI company strategically.
• Nvidia revenue grew 50% year-over-year as a $3 trillion company, unprecedented at scale.
• US employers announced 700,000 job cuts in first 5 months of 2025, 80% spike.
• About 10% of women aged 18-24 are OnlyFans models according to recent statistics.
• Digital assets saw $150 billion in net inflows this year with more expected next.
• China's population pyramid is severely distorted, requiring robots to replace declining worker population significantly.
• Corporate tax receipts in US total only $0.9 trillion of the $4.9 trillion base.
• AI can now perform medical diagnosis at doctor level on a $400 Raspberry Pi.
• Palantir trades at 200 times earnings based on AI narrative rather than fundamentals alone.
• Entry-level graduate jobs are disappearing faster than ever according to recent research papers.
• The dock worker union secured contracts preventing port automation to preserve jobs temporarily negotiated.
• AI models can now think for 200 minutes versus 20 minutes just weeks ago.
• Foundation coin uses 99% same code as Bitcoin but directs proceeds to beneficial compute.

References ​

• Stable Diffusion - Image generation AI model created by Emad Mostaque
• Foundation Coin - Bitcoin alternative directing proceeds to beneficial compute like cancer research
• The Last Economy - Book by Emad Mostaque about AI's economic transformation
• Stan Kuznets - Creator of GDP who warned against using it as sole measure
• Ray Dalio - Hedge fund manager with six-phase debt cycle theory
• Clayton Christensen - Harvard professor who developed disruptive innovation theory
• Helmholtz decomposition - Physics concept relating to Mostaque's economic theory
• Replet.com - Platform where anyone can code apps through AI conversation
• DeepSeek - Chinese AI model competitive with US models at fraction of cost
• Cursor - AI company that hit $100 million revenue faster than any previous company
• XBal - Company that created world's best AI hacking/pentesting system
• Anthropic Sleeper Agent paper - Research showing AI can be programmed with hidden triggers
• Eric Brynjolfsson - Researcher documenting disappearance of entry-level graduate jobs
• Pliny the Elder - Twitter user who jailbreaks every new AI model within days
• Synthesia/HeyGen - AI video generation platforms creating indistinguishable human avatars
• V3 and Nano/Banana - Latest AI video generation models approaching broadcast quality
• Hyperliquid - Digital asset doing direct buybacks of tokens with cash
• MicroStrategy - Company making leveraged bets on Bitcoin as primary strategy
• Optimus - Tesla's humanoid robot projected to cost $1.50/hour to operate
• i.inc (Intelligent Internet) - Emad's new company building universal AI for everyone

One-Sentence Takeaway ​

Build network capital and master AI now because human cognitive labor becomes economically worthless soon.

Recommendations ​

• Start using AI tools for one hour daily to understand capabilities and stay relevant.
• Build strong human networks as defensive strategy against inevitable job displacement by AI systems.
• Diversify investments into digital assets as traditional capital structures become obsolete rapidly approaching transition.
• Learn to create value through attention capture as human attention becomes scarcest resource available.
• Develop skills in human connection and physical presence that robots cannot easily replicate yet.
• Question your identity beyond job title to prepare psychologically for work becoming obsolete universally.
• Master AI tools and communicate that mastery to employers for temporary job security advantage.
• Focus on building resilience through diverse income streams rather than single career specialization traditionally.
• Invest in understanding new economic models beyond capitalism to navigate the coming transition successfully.
• Create content and media as attention-based economy will boom during the transition period significantly.
• Build support systems and community connections now before economic crisis hits society broadly impacting everyone.
• Consider public sector or unionized jobs for temporary protection against automation waves coming rapidly.
• Develop expertise in AI alignment and safety as critical skill for future economy emerging quickly.
• Learn about digital assets and blockchain as new monetary systems replace traditional fiat currencies inevitably.
• Focus on jobs requiring physical presence and human touch for longer-term employment stability potentially.