Key Concepts & Glossary
Understanding the vocabulary and frameworks of Post-Labor Economics
The Language of L/0
New ideas require new language. This glossary defines the key concepts, frameworks, and terminology used in the Post-Labor Economics movement.
Core Thesis
L/0 (Labor Zero)
Central ConceptThe elimination of obligatory human labor through AI, automation, and robotics. L/0 is not about banning work—it's about making work voluntary rather than coerced.
Key Distinctions
Post-Labor Economics
Movement NameThe field of study and advocacy focused on navigating humanity's transition from a labor-based economy to one where AI, automation, and robotics perform most productive work. It addresses how to distribute income, maintain social cohesion, and preserve democratic power when wages are no longer the primary distribution mechanism.
Related Fields
Problems We're Solving
Laborism
IdeologyThe pervasive belief that work is morally necessary—that people should work regardless of whether they need to. Laborism spans the political spectrum: the right sees it as moral duty (Protestant work ethic), the left sees it as worker dignity. Both treat labor as sacred.
Manifestations
Economic Agency Paradox
Market FailureThe contradiction where technology both increases and destroys economic agency: automation lowers prices (dollars go further), but destroys jobs (you get no dollars). The more we automate to lower costs, the worse it gets.
Global Exhaustion
Social CrisisThe worldwide epidemic of worker burnout, disengagement, and despair. Manifesting as declining birth rates, "deaths of despair," quiet quitting, and cultural movements rejecting work as central to identity.
Global Manifestations
Strategic Frameworks
Pyramid of Prosperity
Income DistributionA five-layer framework for how households will receive income after jobs go away. Built from the bottom up: Universals → Public Assets → Private Collective Assets → Individual Assets → Residual Wages. The key insight: ownership replaces wages.
The Five Layers
Pyramid of Power
Democratic LeverageA five-layer framework for maintaining citizen power when labor leverage disappears. Replaces labor power with algorithmic power: immutable civic infrastructure, open payment rails, radical transparency, direct democracy, and metagovernance.
The Five Layers
Algorithmic Power
Replacement for Labor PowerThe new source of citizen leverage in a post-labor world. Unlike labor power (which derives from being able to withhold work), algorithmic power derives from decentralized, immutable, permissionless systems that cannot be controlled by states or corporations.
Properties of Algorithmic Power
Policy Mechanisms
Universal Basic Income (UBI)
Prosperity Layer 1Regular cash payments to all citizens with no strings attached. In the L/0 framework, UBI is important but not sufficient—it's just Layer 1. Over-reliance on government payments concentrates power dangerously.
Real-World Examples
Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF)
Prosperity Layer 2State-owned investment funds that generate returns for citizens. The model: government invests in diversified assets, citizens receive dividends. Norway's $1.7T fund is the gold standard—every Norwegian benefits from national oil wealth.
Real-World Examples
Open Payment Rails
Power Layer 2Public infrastructure for instant, free, universal digital payments that breaks banking monopolies. India's UPI system has 1 billion+ users—proving this works at national scale. Gives citizens financial freedom independent of private banks.
Real-World Examples
Related Movements
FIRE Movement
Individual StrategyFinancial Independence, Retire Early. Individual-level post-labor achieved through aggressive saving and investment. FIRE practitioners are early adopters of L/0 principles—they've figured out that ownership income can replace labor income.
Connection to L/0
Degrowth
Related MovementMovement advocating for reduced economic production to address ecological limits. Shares some goals with L/0 (less compulsory work) but differs on mechanism: degrowth constrains production, L/0 automates it. L/0 is abundance-oriented.
Effective Accelerationism (e/acc)
Related MovementMovement advocating rapid technological progress without restraint. Shares L/0's embrace of automation but often ignores distribution questions. L/0 is "accelerationism with a plan"—pushing forward on tech while building the infrastructure for broad benefit.
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