“[AI boosters] are all locked in, because their reputations are staked on this being true.”

Nick leads a discussion on the idea of the “permanent underclass,” and Mike outlines the different groups of AI boosters propping up the narrative.

• The APM Fallacy: Tech workers are optimizing for “actions per minute” or using agents to do more things faster without considering ROI. Productivity as a video game.
• The Token Reality Gap: When the subsidies end, agents that felt magical become prohibitively expensive.
• The rogues' gallery of overlords: Dissecting the buckets of AI boosters—from true believers and doomsday cultists to managers using AI to avoid the “witch hunt” of layoffs.

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

1:43 Silicon Valley ...