Are We More Than What We Produce?

Imagine a society of 100 people. Some are engineers, scientists, accountants, programmers and other specialists who spend years learning to build the things society relies on. The rest of us benefit from what they create, and there is nothing wrong with that. I use AI tools to edit my writing, yet I do not want to become a programmer and build an AI system. I enjoy food, but I do not need to become a chef. Society works because people specialise and depend on one another. The problem starts when we treat usefulness as a measure of human worth. Producers may feel exploited, while users may feel guilty or inadequate. That guilt can push people to chase titles, professions and status just to prove that they matter. As machines take over more jobs, we may need to confront a harder question: who are we when our job title, income, appearance and achievements are stripped away? Interdependence is not inferiority.

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