Futureproofing Society Wiki Index

This wiki supports the writing of Futureproofing Society, tracking chapters, concepts, evidence, counterarguments, research, fiction continuity, and open questions across the manuscript. 72 pages across 7 sections.

Update 2026-04-20: every page under wiki/chapters/ now carries the full manuscript text under a ## Manuscript Content section, beneath the existing analysis. The authoritative editing source remains /chapters/ — wiki manuscript sections get regenerated from there by scripts/merge_content_to_wiki.py (idempotent; safe to re-run after each Google Doc pull).

Chapters

Part I: The Unraveling

chapter-01 – The Price of Progress (fiction + analysis: Tarun's job loss, automation's human cost)
chapter-02 – UBI as solution to technological unemployment
chapter-03 – AI's historical evolution: five converging technologies

Part II: Understanding the Change

chapter-04 – The Mathematics of Change (fiction + analysis: exponential growth, feedback loops)
chapter-05 – Three consciousness shifts needed
chapter-06 – Emotional AI and job transformation

Part III: Living the Transition

chapter-07 – The Weight of Freedom (fiction + analysis: Chantal's displacement, identity crisis)
chapter-08 – Collective work traditions across cultures
chapter-09 – Historical technology resistance (Ottoman, Qing parallels)
chapter-10 – The Cascade (fiction + analysis: converging technologies) [WIP]

Part IV: The Long Game

chapter-11 – AI ethics and the mirror of human behaviour
chapter-12 – Philosophical foundations of UBI [WIP]
chapter-13 – Environmental restoration through abundance
chapter-14 – Inevitability and transition duration [WIP]
chapter-15 – Life extension breaking social contracts

Part V: Making It Real

chapter-16 – Working the Change (fiction: Chantal finds purpose)
chapter-17 – Global cooperation and decentralisation
chapter-18 – Practical daily actions for different societal roles

Part VI: Beyond Tomorrow

chapter-19 – Science fiction becoming fact
chapter-20 – The Next Question (fiction: elderly Chantal, family dinner, full circle)
preface – Author's personal journey through technological acceleration

Evidence Pages

Pages tracking specific pieces of evidence, trials, historical examples, and data cited in the book.

UBI Trials and Real-World Evidence

alaska-permanent-fund – Alaska's oil dividend programme (1982–present), demonstrating stable employment despite unconditional payments
givedirectly-kenya – Kenya UBI trial with conditional cash transfers to villages
finland-ubi-trial – Finland's 2017–2018 basic income experiment with psychological outcome measurement

Voluntary Contribution & Unpaid Work

linux-open-source – Open-source software development as evidence of intrinsic motivation
wikipedia – Collaborative encyclopaedia creation without compensation
volunteer-rescue-teams – Mountain rescue, RNLI, and National Trust as examples of dangerous/essential unpaid work

Historical Technology Cases

ottoman-printing-press – Ottoman Empire's restriction of printing (1727+) and resulting competitive decline
qing-industrialisation – Qing Dynasty's rejection of industrial technology and eventual disadvantage

Emerging Technologies

perovskite-solar – Breakthrough solar-cell technology for energy abundance
crispr-gene-editing – Gene-editing capability for crop resilience and food production

Counterargument Pages

Pages tracking major objections to the book's arguments and how the manuscript addresses (or should address) each.

Economic Objections

work-disincentive – "People won't work if paid not to" – addressed via trials and volunteer evidence
cost-and-funding – "We can't afford UBI" – addressed via government redirection, corporate self-interest, and technology-driven abundance
inflation-risk – "UBI will just raise prices" – addressed via productivity and controlled-rollout mechanisms
free-rider-problem – "Why pay billionaires?" – addressed via progressive-tax recapture logic

Social & Cultural Objections

cultural-dependency – "UBI creates laziness and erodes work ethic" – addressed via historical and behavioural evidence

Policy & Regulation Objections

over-regulation-stifling – "Strict regulation prevents disruption" – addressed via Ottoman/Qing historical precedent and futility-of-resistance argument

Concept Pages

Core Economic Arguments

universal-basic-income – The book's central policy argument; appears in nearly every chapter
post-scarcity – Abundance economics, zero marginal cost, technology-enabled material surplus
automation-and-displacement – Job loss, technological unemployment, nonlinear acceleration

Psychological and Social

identity-through-work – The meaning crisis when employment-based identity collapses
consciousness-shifts – Three required mental transitions for society to navigate the change
human-creativity-without-coercion – Evidence that humans create and contribute without wages

Technology and Change

exponential-growth – Acceleration, feedback loops, compound effects, prediction failures
technology-cascade – How converging technologies create cascading systemic change
life-extension – Breaking pension and retirement social contracts
emotional-ai-and-human-understanding – AI capabilities in emotional prediction and pattern recognition

Governance and Resistance

historical-resistance-to-change – Ottoman press, Qing industrialisation, modern over-regulation
ai-mirrors-humanity – AI reflecting human flaws at scale without moral development

Fiction Pages

chantal-timeline – Chronological timeline of Chantal's life across all six fiction chapters (age 18–73)
fiction-bridges – Maps what question each fiction section raises and which nonfiction responds
characters – All named characters, relationships, thematic functions
uncle-tarun – Tarun's arc from identity collapse to wisdom figure

Research Pages

Research threads extracted from notes/ — tracking what's been used in the manuscript and what hasn't.

UBI and Economics

ubi-arguments-comprehensive – Eight major UBI objections with counterpoints; several unused threads
job-displacement-evidence – Current statistics: 14% already displaced, gender disparity, wage complementarity

AI Safety and Concerns

ai-concerns-comprehensive – Eight AI concern domains with solutions
ai-fears-layered-analysis – Six-level analysis of public vs expert AI concerns
ai-psychology-and-fear – Psychological analysis of fear and AI; neuroscience evidence largely unused
constitutional-ai-framework – Anthropic's alignment approach; concrete and measurable but unused in manuscript
deepfakes-election-manipulation – Slovakia 2024, governance failure modes

Theoretical Frameworks

constructed-emotion-theory – Barrett's theory applied to AI; completely unused despite relevance
deep-learning-self-correction – How neural networks self-model; alternative to paperclip maximiser
fiction-as-moral-training – Fiction as humanity's moral training data; provocative, unused
maslow-hierarchy-alternative-framing – Critical gap: needs theories not yet researched or integrated

Technology and Post-Scarcity

post-scarcity-technologies – Technological roadmap; force-multiplier framework largely unused
daily-life-post-scarcity – Speculative sketch of post-scarcity daily life

Questions Pages

evidence-repetition – Are key evidence pieces over-repeated across chapters?
counterargument-gaps – Where do the book's responses to objections need strengthening?

How to Use This Wiki

Check evidence pages before citing evidence – verify assumptions, limitations, over-reliance risks
Review counterargument pages before finalising arguments – identify gaps in coverage that need addressing
Cross-reference liberally – use slug notation to link related concepts
Update status and confidence as pages develop – seed → developing → solid → needs-review
Track last_updated to know which pages reflect current manuscript state

Editorial Notes

Source of truth: /chapters/ directory contains the authoritative manuscript
Research context: /notes/ directory contains background research, alternative drafts, and planning documents – use for context but not as source material
Previous versions: Pages marked [WIP] or [old] in the manuscript are incomplete; check wiki status before citing

Last updated: 2026-04-20 Created by: Wiki-building session Last content sync: 2026-04-20 (manuscript text mirrored into all chapter pages from /chapters/ via scripts/merge_content.py)