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Today, I wanna talk about a vision of the future.

A vision that many in Silicon Valley, the tech elites, and even Elon Musk are increasingly painting a highly automated world.

a post-labor society where robots do nearly all the work where people don't have to work and money may even become irrelevant.

That vision can sound utopian. A world of abundance, ease and freedom. And when I reference freedom, I usually like to say free-dumb.

I wanna argue.

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This vision is deeply flawed because it misunderstands and underestimates what real human work is. Not just economic output, but in purpose, in relationships, in meaning. Charlie Tremendous Jones, he stated,

that his work was his worship.

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Automation may grow.

AI may scale.

but it'll never fully replace the riches of human interaction.

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And underneath that, I want to make a deeper case.

Work is not only a requirement.

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It's a necessity for mankind to flourish.

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The power of compounding, compounding in skills, in economics, is a miracle we often overlook. Trades, real, physical, skilled trades, are irreplaceable.

and most importantly, the family economy.

the notion of the family bank.

the family as an economic unit.

That is going to be the fundamental engine of a future that actually works for people.

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So let's dig in.

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recently, I think it was just this past weekend.

Elon Musk made some bold claims that in the next 10 to 20 years, work could become optional. Robots powered by AI will handle much of the production and will only have to work if we choose to. More like a hobby.

You know all those great, you how you choose to pay taxes and you choose to help fund these tariffs, you know. There was another great article out this morning on, these tariffs aren't so bad. My son Buddy, who does leather work, he just went to try to purchase more inventory and he was...

confronted with the realization of what tariffs have done. And it's been great for all of us. Don't worry, they're going to give some of that money back to you. It's going to be great. It's going to be tremendous.

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Musk even envisions a universal high income. It's definitely high, that's for sure. A system of wealth distribution, not by wages, but by wealth generated by the machines themselves. This is much like the redistribution of wealth that has taken place over the last...

say 80 years in our stocks and bonds markets. I don't know who these people are that are stuck in the stocks and in the bonds, but they are definitely paying the price, that's for sure. They are serving time.

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Musk was also saying this could eventually lead to money.

might stop becoming irrelevant altogether.

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says the richest name guy in the world. Not the richest guy in the That's the other thing, you know, they talk about these who's the richest guy in the world. The richest guys in the world, you don't know their names, okay, just for... You don't know who they are by design and you never will know who they are. And these poster children for the technocracy, know, the Elon Musk, the Jeff Bezos. This is what's really fascinating to me.

having grown up in the pre-internet era and you had these modern titans of industry, right? And then you find out they're all just a bunch of carpet baggers. And Bill Gates is no different, but yet he was some self-made man, right? Like, just like Elon Musk. It's funny. They're just talking heads. They're just the face of a

the machine, they get paid their cut.

but money might become irrelevant altogether if automation scales to near zero marginal costs. Yeah, because AI isn't expensive. AI isn't burning megatons of power. And AI isn't malfunctioning. And Cloudflare and AWS, they're all working smoothly. It's going to be great. There's no cyber polygon that's going to happen or anything like that. anyway.

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So what's missing in this utopia, this future, this really bad sci-fi movie that we've all seen sometimes, but this vision raises huge questions.

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If machines do all the work, who owns the machines? Who collects the value?

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If we assume equitable distribution, I just said that in air quotes for those of you that are listening. Do we really trust that robot owners or tech elites won't just concentrate that wealth, kind of like they've been doing for the last hundred years? Well, that's going to magically change. That's not going to happen anymore.

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And then there's the existential dimension. What gives human life meaning?

if work is optional.

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Musk himself acknowledged that meaning could become elusive. He's such a thinker. He's such a smart guy. Musk. He's a really smart guy. Say no to pot kids. Experts in humanity and AI are already raising red flags.

A report from technology experts suggests that deeper adoption of AI could erode social and emotional intelligence. Too late. Too late for all you social media people that are completely and socially inept and incapable of functioning like a normal human.

that's too late. If 2020 hasn't taught us anything, that red flag has been raised and burnt and is gone. yeah, AI could erode social and emotional intelligence. We can trust, reduce agency and compromise purpose.

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philosophically.

The technocracy, the idea that society can be run like a well-tuned machine, where everything is optimized technically, that may sound efficient, but technocracy overlooks human dignity, creativity, and real relationships.

And it's bogus on its face because there's always puppet masters pulling the strings. Just like lot of this, just like Optimus, you know, and all of these Android type robotics that are walking around doing all this cool stuff. None of them are doing it autonomously.

So it's definitely Deus Ex Machina. There's definitely a dog and pony show here. And the smartest guys in the room, maybe money will just become irrelevant, says the guy with the most stacked chips. Yeah, that's cool. Cool story, bro.

Now automation is powerful. It increases productivity, reduces cost, handles repetitive tasks.

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But not all tasks are amenable to full automation. Many human tasks involve emotional judgment, creativity, moral decision making, qualities that machines struggle to replicate.

In financial services, for example, recent academic work highlights that AI lacks in crucial human attributes, sympathy, presence, hope, things you just can't code in. remember 20 years ago being in the financial field and they were saying that algorithms

and Monte Carlo simulations are just gonna replace financial advisors.

And that still hasn't happened yet.

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Also, the transition to automation is not risk free.

Research into societal adaptation to AI-driven automation warns of massive social disruption, massive unemployment, identity crisis. This is right after we fixed like,

whether people thinks that they're dogs and men think they're women and all that stuff. And now, and now we're going to have another identity crisis. Rutrow Raggy.

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unless we intentionally design institutions to maintain human roles.

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not just economic safety nets. I love all the socialism. I love the news speak. It's great. Economic safety nets. That's communism. Meanwhile, the family economy is the economic safety nets and it's not relegated or delegated by a technocrat.

or they, them, and those, or if it pleases the crown.

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Human interaction is irreplaceable.

Real human work is not just about output. It's about relationships between colleagues, customers, trainees, apprentices, mentors, people.

Trades in particular thrive on apprenticeship, mentorship, real-time feedback. You learn from someone, you pass down wisdom, you form bonds.

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That's not easily replaced by a robot or an AI model.

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Moreover, communities are built around work, local businesses, workshops, family trades, all knit people together. If automation hollowed that out, what becomes of community? Automation is centralization. You can't decentralize. The whole entire point of automation is centralization.

Who's running the, who's steering the ship? Who's running this thing? What if cloud fare goes down? What if Amazon Web Services don't function for a couple minutes?

Catastrophic. Catastrophic issues, y'all.

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WORK!

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is a necessity. Work is more than a paycheck.

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Yes, it's a means to provide for your family, pay your bills, build security, capitalize, save, but work also organizes our days. It gives us purpose. It grounds us in reality. Just ask all the, just ask the 13 % of society that's on these SNAP benefits.

They don't want to work because they don't have to work. And they can stay home and game and troll Facebook and judge everybody and do all that kind of cool stuff.

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If we remove the requirement to work as in Elon's vision, many may experience existential drift.

without the structure struggle and stakes of real work.

People can lose a sense of agency and identity. And that is the point, y'all. That's the entire point of the social experiment.

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one of the most underappreciated forces in life.

is compounding not just in money but in skills in habits in relationships

when you learn a trade, every day you build on what you learned the day before.

Your craftsmanship becomes deeper. Your efficiency improves. Your reputation grows.

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That compounding is miraculous.

Jim Rohn talks about it doing push-ups and how do you go from 5 to 10? It's a miracle.

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In a fully automated world, of those compounding gains get flattened if robots do it all. Humans don't build the same kind of mastery because there's no long-term investment in a craft or skill.

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Families are where much of that compounding power lives.

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Parents teach children. Grandparents pass down wisdom. Siblings learn to work together. A family that works together, perhaps running a business, a trade shop, website, a family farm.

compounds generationally skills values wealth character all accumulate

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if work becomes optional.

that intergenerational transmission.

will atrophy.

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There is an enduring value of skilled trades.

Trades will never be replaced by technology.

skilled trades, plumbing, welding, carpentry, electrical work, blacksmithing, masonry.

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are deeply human. They combine physical skill, judgment, adaptation.

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No single robot can replicate decades of trade wisdom easily.

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Trays people don't follow a rigid formula. They adapt. A plumber in a century's old house might have to make bespoke fixes. A carpenter working on custom furniture must respond to grain, texture, and nuance.

These trades people form relationships with their clients.

apprentice others, pass down craft traditions. That relational mentorship based work is resistant to full automation.

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Technology is a good tool, but it's certainly not a replacement. Of course, trades will incorporate technology, power tools, computer aided design, sensors, robotics, but that doesn't mean trades themselves will vanish.

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Instead, technology should augment trade work. It should make skilled people more efficient, not replace the skilled person entirely.

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The craftsman will remain indispensable.

for quality, trust, creativity, and problem solving.

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In many trades, decisions are moral, not just technical. An electrician must decide how to route wire safely, think about long-term reliability, or consider ethical use of resources. A builder must consider community impact, sustainability, safety.

the same thing that a farmer must think about.

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These decisions require not only technical skill, but wisdom, ethics, and relationships.

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Those aren't easily reducible to code or mechanical routines. I would say that would be impossible.

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So what is the family economy?

By family economy, I mean treating your family as an economic unit. And this is the way that it was done 100 plus years ago.

not just in consumption, but in production, capital accumulation, and mutual support.

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Historically, families ran farms, trades, workshops. The family business was how you built wealth, passed down trade, and maintained intergenerational ties.

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In modern times, that model has weakened.

But I believe it must be revitalized if we are to resist hollow, dehumanized, automated futures.

You are the resistance. And this is the only way to fight back. This is why there has been this pool.

We felt the need in 2014 to move.

to become more agrarian, to live a slower, more intentional life. That's why...

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People are feeling the need to do that. We must slow down.

if we want to live a meaningful life.

We must participate.

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in the process, whether it's our food or our family or our children or our grandchildren. We have to participate. We can't be dope nodding out on the internet and vicariously living through other people.

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It is absurd.

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The family bank will be the monetary engine of the future. The family bank is a concept. Family members pulling capital, reinvesting in family enterprises, training, property, trade tools, education, and distributing resources internally.

rather than relying entirely on external financial institutions. And the truth is these external financial institutions are the same ones that enslave us. These are the same external institutions that we invest our 401k and our IRA and whatever our government issued fake carrot

for tax deferral and then we farm out our capital to them and this way they can take our money and enslave us with our own money. And then we have to say, might I have more?

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and it's insane and it needs to stop and it stops with you it stops with me I refuse to invest I refuse to invest in air quotes

It's pure speculation and it's complete wealth redistribution. You want to know why Elon Musk is worth a trillion dollars? Because of you, because of your 401k, because of Starlink and Project Blackjack. Yeah, he's just this great innovator. He's so smart.

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He's on government welfare like everybody else. I refuse to participate.

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Family banking has multiple benefits. Financial resilience, you're not entirely dependent on outside credit. The goal is to be completely weaned and devoid of outside credit. Intergenerational investments, children, grandchildren benefit. And alignment of values, you invest

in what matters to you, not BlackRock, Blackstone, State Street, Vanguard.

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abortion nuclear bombs

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A strong family bank helps sustain trades, encourages long-term planning, and resists this temptation to abandon work when external incentives like universal basic income or liquidating the farm for a solar bank

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when these incentives tempt people to disengage.

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compounding through the family bank. When a family bank invests in its own business, say a woodworking shop, profits can be reinvested, sent to apprentices or used to improve tools and facilities. Over time that compounds.

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Also, when a family teaches their children a trade...

They are compounding human capital, not just money, but skill, character, and craftsmanship.

That long-term compounding counters short-term extractive models of wealth that depend on machines and external shareholders.

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The family economy is not just financial.

It's moral. It fosters responsibility, stewardship, legacy. When you run a family business,

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help train your kids, build something together, you build more than net worth. You build relationships, resilience, and purpose.

Moreover, a family bank rooted in real trade means the value isn't abstract. It's grounded in real work and tools and craftsmanship in service to the community.

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So why does this matter for society?

and what should we do?

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We need a vision for the next generation.

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if we consider the family economy.

We equip the next generation not just to earn a paycheck, but to be entrepreneurs, craftsmen, stewards of legacy. This builds resilience. When economic shock hits, families with trade skills who own tools and who run intergenerational businesses are more stable.

It also builds dignity. Young people don't become dependent on universal. It used to be. It's kind of funny because it used to be universal basic income and now it's universal high income. I guess when they did the basic income that didn't pull well. So now it's universal high income. We're all going to be wealthy because of the robots. It's going to be great.

They learn to contribute.

to create and to master.

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We need to defend apprenticeship, vocational education, and small-scale trade business. These are not second-tier fallback options. They are pillars of the healthy economy, and they will make you very wealthy. We should encourage family-saving vehicles, incentives for family business development,

tax structures that favor intergenerational trade investment. And the beauty of a family economy and the beauty of private family banking is that you don't have to wait till you vote. You don't have to vote harder next time.

You don't have to wait for the right guy or wait for the right tax structure or wait for the right terrorist scheme.

or wait for the new speak, the socialist communist repackaged as nationalism and all that stuff. You don't have to wait for any of that. You can start now. You can start today. And you don't have to wait until your favorite talking head thinks it's a good idea.

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Culturally, we need to reject the narrative that work will be obsolete is the ideal.

Instead, reclaim work.

as central.

life.

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We must guard against technocratic capture. If automation scales, but we do not build robust human-centered institutions like the family economy.

who controls the machines.

likely big tech in air quotes, know, big tech and the deep state, the elite shareholders. That's the real danger.

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by embedding economic power in families, in real work, in real trade. We decentralize the power. You will see common themes.

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The engine of value creation remains human and relational. We decentralize the power. What's very interesting to me right now is you have all these supposed Christian nationalists and they all want to talk about the post-war consensus. And the problem is, is they're focusing on World War II. Because the real problem...

with the post-war consensus and the real post-war consensus was the war of northern aggression.

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World War II, dude, it was already fully cooked and gone. That was the cherry on the technocratic cheesecake. The real post-war consensus was the rebranding of the Republicans as these conservative do-gooders.

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and then the talking points continue to trickle down.

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But I digress, I don't want to get off on a rabbit trail. I do that a lot, I apologize.

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We must build institutions not just for efficiency, but for meaning, responsibility, and legacy.

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So in closing, yes, automation is rising. AI is growing. Robots are coming. John Connor.

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or whatever, I forget, you know, that was a Terminator reference or whatever. We must not be seduced by a future that promises freedom at the cost of meaning.

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So much of everything I've said is like, duh. It's kind of crazy.

that you have to articulate these things.

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real work.

in trades, in relationships, in families, real work. It's work.

cannot be replaced by machines.

the intangible qualities of mentorship, craftsmanship, trust, character.

These are obviously uniquely human.

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Work isn't just a burden, it's a gift. Through work we grow, we serve, we build. Through compounding of skill, of capital, of family legacy, we realize miracles over time. The family economy anchored by a family bank

is not an antiquated model. It is the foundation for a future where people flourish. Not because machines serve them, but because they serve together.

So let's slow down, be intentional, invest in our families. Let's nurture the trades. Let's build a future that values real interaction above utopian convenience.

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Thank you for listening.

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I believe while machines may change...

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the human heart.

The human hand.

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and the family itself will remain indispensable.

And if you appreciate our content and our information, I hope that this encourages you. Go on over to thetexasboys.com. The food forest in a box, as well as the rest of our cuttings are now available. We will cut them fresh and ship them to you. We love and appreciate y'all. Thank you so much for the support and we will see you on the next show.