The AI Revolution is Here, and “Learn to Code” is Dead: A Neo-Luddite Wake-Up Call! By Chris Knight (Florida)

For years, the establishment told us that "learn to code" was the golden ticket to a secure, high-paying career. Politicians, tech moguls, and career counsellors pushed software engineering as the ultimate path to the American Dream, and Australian one too. But as a recent Yahoo News article reveals, that promise has been shattered by the very technology it celebrated. Shawn K, a 42-year-old software engineer with two decades of experience and a computer science degree, is living proof. Once earning a comfortable $150,000 a year, he's now scraping by in an RV trailer, delivering DoorDash orders and selling household items on eBay after losing his job to artificial intelligence (AI). This isn't just one man's story, it's a warning siren for every Western worker, and a call to action for the freedom movement to confront the AI-driven economic tsunami head-on.

The "learn to code" mantra was sold to us as a foolproof plan: get a tech degree, land a six-figure job, and ride the wave of innovation to prosperity. Shawn K followed that script to the letter. With 20 years in the industry, he weathered layoffs during the 2008 financial crisis and the pandemic, bouncing back each time within months. But when he was laid off in April 2024, the game had changed. AI, once a tool to assist coders, had become their replacement. Despite sending out 800 job applications, K has landed fewer than 10 interviews, some conducted by AI agents, not humans. "I feel super invisible," he told Fortune. "I feel unseen. I feel like I'm filtered out before a human is even in the chain."

This isn't an isolated case. According to Layoffs.fyi, over 150,000 tech workers lost their jobs in 2024, with another 50,000 cut in 2025 so far. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics once hailed software engineering as one of the fastest-growing fields, but that projection now looks like a cruel joke. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts that by September 2025, AI will write 90% of code, and within 12 months, it could handle "essentially all" coding tasks. Half of software engineering jobs will vanish within four years, threatening GDP growth as high earners like K lose their spending power.

The MAGA movement has long been sceptical of unchecked technological "progress" peddled by globalist elites. While Big Tech promised AI would create jobs, the truth is starkly different. Shawn K's last role was in the metaverse, a field hyped as the "next big thing" until it was eclipsed by AI tools like ChatGPT. Now, companies are slashing developer teams to cut costs, using AI to do the work of dozens with a single coder, or none at all. K calls this "The Great Displacement," a "social and economic disaster tidal wave" already underway, not some distant threat.

What's infuriating is how the system is rigged against workers like K. Companies aren't using AI to amplify human potential, as they could, K suggests a team of 10 developers could do "1,000x the work" with AI. Instead, they're slashing headcounts to boost profits, leaving skilled Americans on the sidelines. K's frustration isn't with AI itself, he's an "AI maximalist" who believes it can outperform humans in some tasks. But he's livid that corporate greed is valuing cost-cutting over innovation, turning a technology that could empower workers into a weapon against them.

Shawn K's story is a gut punch. Once a high earner, he now lives in a small RV in central New York, piecing together a few hundred bucks a month from DoorDash and eBay sales. He's considered retraining for a tech certificate or even a trucking license, but the cost of re-education is a nonstarter for someone already stretched thin. This is what the elites don't get: when you pull the rug out from under workers, you don't just take their pay cheque, you strip their dignity, their stability, and their hope. K's been unemployed for over a year, yet he hasn't given up. But how long can he hold on when the system seems designed to keep him down?

The broader impact is even scarier. High-earning tech workers like K drive economic growth, spending on homes, cars, and local businesses. When they're replaced by AI, that spending dries up, hitting small towns and big cities alike. This could tank GDP, as the ripple effects of lost jobs spread. And it's not just coders, AI is coming for accountants, designers, and even truckers. If we don't act, millions of people in the West could face K's fate: sidelined, invisible, and abandoned by a system that values algorithms over people.

The MAGA movement (also Make Australia Great Again) is about putting America (Australia) First, and that means protecting American (Australian) workers from the ravages of unchecked AI, as should nationalist across the West. President Trump understands this. His tariffs and trade policies, as noted in a Yahoo Finance article, aim to shield American jobs from globalist agendas that value cheap labour and automation over human livelihoods. But tariffs alone won't solve this crisis. We need a bold, Nation First strategy to confront AI's job-killing spree:

1.Tax AI-Driven Layoffs: Companies that replace workers with AI should face hefty penalties, discouraging mass layoffs while funding retraining programs for displaced workers like Shawn K. This keeps profits from trumping people.

2.Subsidise Human-AI Collaboration: Instead of letting corporations gut workforces, incentivise them to use AI to enhance human productivity. K's vision of a 10-person team doing "1,000x the work" could create jobs and drive innovation if supported by tax breaks or grants.

3.Retraining That Works: The government must fund accessible, targeted retraining for tech workers, focusing on AI-resistant skills like creative problem-solving or emerging fields like AI ethics. Unlike expensive degrees or certificates, these programs should be practical and affordable, helping workers like K get back on their feet.

4.Regulate AI Hiring Tools: K's experience of being "filtered out" by AI agents before reaching a human recruiter is a disgrace. We need laws ensuring human oversight in hiring to give qualified workers a fair shot.

5.Promote Small Business Tech: Big Tech monopolies are leading the AI charge, but small businesses create jobs. Tax incentives for start-ups that value human workers over automation could level the playing field and rebuild local economies.

Shawn K's story is a wake-up call: the "learn to code" dream is dead, and AI is the executioner.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/software-engineer-lost-150k-job-090000839.html

"Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has predicted that AI will be doing all coding tasks by next year—but an existential crisis is already hitting some software engineers. One man who lost his job last year has had to turn to living in an RV trailer, DoorDashing and selling his household items on eBay to make ends meet, as his once $150k salary has turned to dust.

Tech layoffs are nothing new for Shawn K (his full legal last name is one letter).

The software engineer first lost his job after the 2008 financial crisis and then again during the pandemic, but on both occasions, he was back on his feet just a few months later.

However, when K was given the pink slip last April he quickly realized this time was different: AI's revolution of the tech industry was playing out right in front of him.

Despite having two decades of experience and a computer science degree, he's landed fewer than 10 interviews from the 800 applications he's sent out. Worse yet, some of those few interviews have been with an AI agent instead of a human.

"I feel super invisible," K tells Fortune. "I feel unseen. I feel like I'm filtered out before a human is even in the chain."

And while fears about AI replacing jobs have been around for years, the 42-year-old thinks his experience is only likely the beginning of a "social and economic disaster tidal wave."

"The Great Displacement is already well underway," he recently wrote on his Substack.

Making ends meet with DoorDash—he says it's a fate coming for 'basically everyone'

K's last job was working at a company focused on the metaverse—an area that was predicted to be the next great thing, only to be overshadowed in part by the rise of ChatGPT.

Now living in a small RV trailer in central New York with no lead on a new tech job, K's had to turn to creative strategies to make ends meet, and try to replace a fraction of his former $150,000 salary.

In between searching incessantly for new jobs, checking his empty email inbox, and researching the latest AI news, he delivers DoorDash orders, like Buffalo Wild Wings to a local Holiday Inn, and sells random household items on eBay, like an old laptop. In total, it only adds to a few hundred bucks.

He's also considered going back to school for a tech certificate—or even to obtain his CDL trucking license—but both were scratched off his list due to their hefty financial barrier to entry.

K's reality may shock some, considering that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has consistently labeled software engineering as one of the fastest growing fields, but stories like his may soon become all more common.

Earlier this year, the CEO of Anthropic Dario Amodei predicted that more software jobs will soon go by the wayside. By September, he said AI will be writing 90% of the code; moreover, "in 12 months, we may be in a world where AI is writing essentially all of the code," he tells the Council on Foreign Relations.

In 2024, over 150,000 tech workers lost their jobs, and so far in 2025, that number has reached over 50,000, according to Layoffs.fyi.

"It's coming for basically everyone in due time, and we are already overdue for proposing any real solution in society to heading off the worst of these effects," K wrote.

"The discussion of AI job replacement in the mainstream is still viewed as something coming in the vague future rather than something that's already underway."

Losing his job isn't the only issue

Despite being unemployed for over a year, K still hasn't lost hope, nor is he necessarily mad at AI for replacing him and still calls himself an "AI maximalist."

"If AI really legitimately can do a better job than me, I'm not gonna sit here and feel bad about, oh, it replaced me and it doesn't have the human touch," K says.

What's frustrating, he adds, is that companies are using AI to save money by cutting talent—rather than leveraging its power and embracing cyborg workers.

"I think there's this problem where people are stuck in the old world business mindset of, well, if I can do the same work that 10 developers were doing with one developer, let's just cut the developer team instead of saying, oh, well, we've got a 10 developer team, let's do 1,000x the work that we were doing before," K says."

https://shawnfromportland.substack.com/p/the-great-displacement-is-already