People We Imagine: Human Possibility in an Age of AI

This essay traces a history of ideas—from Robert Owen's argument that circumstances form human character, to the Chartists' demand for political voice, Ira Steward's case that shorter hours create new wants, and later conceptions of the knowledge worker and online participant—to argue that debates about AI focus too much on what people will lose rather than what they might become. It notes that AI is built on an immense accumulation of human contribution and argues such systems should return meaningful benefits to society, not merely financial returns to their owners.