Source: Students For Liberty
by Ketevani Kadagishvili
“Economic progress has always been shadowed by the fear of technological unemployment. It is a belief that a new machine or a more efficient process will leave the human race with nothing to do. In 1845, the French economist Frédéric Bastiat shattered this logic with his famous satire, the ‘Petition of the Candlemakers.’ In his story, the manufacturers of candles and lamps demanded that the government block out the sun because its free light was ruining their business and causing unemployment in the tallow industry. Today, we are seeing those same fears with the onset of Artificial Intelligence (AI) developments or taxing robot labor. Unfortunately, we seem to be repeating the historical mistake of prioritizing the survival of specific job titles over the general prosperity of the entire population.” (04/15/26)