What Do Jobs and Money Look Like in a Post-Human Economy?
Watch on YouTube ↗  |  February 07, 2026 at 12:00 UTC  |  59:24  |  Unchained (Chopping Block)
Speakers
Laura Shin — Host of Unchained
Michael Casey — Chairman of the Advanced AI Society
David Mattin — Co-founder of the Exponentialist

Summary

  • The economy is shifting toward a "Post-Human" state where AI agents (autonomous software) become the primary economic actors, trading services and compute with one another.
  • In this future, human labor constraints (time/effort) are replaced by physical constraints (energy/compute), making energy the ultimate currency.
  • A "Proof of Control" sector will emerge as a massive investment theme. As AI chaos increases (hallucinations, unauthorized actions), corporations and regulators will demand cryptographic verification (blockchain, ZK proofs) to ensure humans retain sovereignty over AI agents.
  • Entry-level knowledge work (coding, customer service, graphic design) is seeing a rapid hiring slowdown, signaling a structural short in these labor markets.
Trade Ideas
Ticker Direction Speaker Thesis Time
LONG Michael Casey
Chairman of the Advanced AI Society
Casey argues that as AI agents become autonomous, there will be a massive backlash demanding "Proof of Control." Corporations need to prove data sovereignty and that an agent is acting on their behalf. The technology stack that solves this is crypto-native: Zero-Knowledge Proofs (privacy/verification), Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), and Decentralized Storage/Compute. These are not just "crypto" plays but essential "AI Compliance" infrastructure. LONG the infrastructure layer that bridges Crypto and AI (e.g., Filecoin, Render, Arweave, or ZK-focused protocols). Regulatory capture where governments mandate centralized, closed-source AI control systems instead of decentralized ones. 58:46
WATCH Michael Casey
Chairman of the Advanced AI Society
Casey highlights Hypercycle (where he is an advisor) as a network of independent nodes ("node factories") that allow AIs to exchange intelligence peer-to-peer securely. This represents a structural bet on the "Intelligence Economy," where the value lies in the secure transmission of data/inference between AI agents rather than just the LLM itself. WATCH. It is a specific play on the "internet of AI agents" thesis. Casey is an advisor (bias). The project is early-stage and competes with major centralized API ecosystems.
AVOID David Mattin
Co-founder of the Exponentialist
Mattin observes a rapid slowdown in entry-level hiring in specific sectors: customer service, graphic design, and coding. This is the "canary in the coal mine." If entry-level roles are vanishing, the business models of companies reliant on billing for human hours in these sectors (Business Process Outsourcing, dev shops) are structurally broken. AVOID or SHORT sectors highly exposed to commoditized human knowledge work. AI regulation could mandate "human-in-the-loop" requirements that slow down automation adoption.
WATCH David Mattin
Co-founder of the Exponentialist
Mattin mentions "Shellrazer," a token launched by an AI agent on the "Maltbook" platform, which gained traction purely through agentic social activity. This validates the thesis of "Agentic Markets"—economies where non-human actors create and trade value. While currently "shenanigans," it proves the concept of AI-generated assets. WATCH. This is highly speculative/gambling, but represents the first wave of "AI-Native Assets." Rug pulls, lack of liquidity, and the fact that the "agent" might just be a human larper (impersonator). 57:34
LONG Laura Shin
Host of Unchained
Shin notes significant geopolitical uncertainty (e.g., Venezuela) and explicitly states that central banks are buying gold, driving the price up. Gold is acting as the primary hedge against the destabilization of the current world order. As AI disrupts economies and geopolitics fragment, the "flight to safety" trade into hard assets strengthens. LONG as a macro hedge against the "chaos" phase of the AI transition. Stabilization of geopolitical conflicts or a shift of liquidity solely into digital store-of-value assets (Bitcoin). 6:41
WATCH David Mattin
Co-founder of the Exponentialist
Mattin mentions a startup called "Ambient" that is attempting to create an ecosystem with a token representing "units of machine intelligence." This aligns with his "Post-Human Economy" thesis where the currency is no longer fiat, but a measure of useful compute/intelligence work. WATCH as a potential early mover in the "Compute-as-Currency" vertical. Early-stage execution risk and competition from major L1 blockchains pivoting to compute. 37:29