A 47-year-old business writer posted on Reddit two weeks ago. She's been laid off three times. She's asking strangers what trade she can learn that doesn't wreck her joints and pays at least $70,000.

She's not in the unemployment numbers yet. She will be.

Brookings just published research on "adaptive capacity." Of the 37 million workers in high-exposure jobs, 6.1 million have almost no ability to adapt. Eighty-six percent are women.

MIT studied 300 AI initiatives. Ninety-five percent failed to deliver measurable ROI. Ninety-five percent.

And yet Meta is spending hundreds of billions on data centers. Amazon tripled capital spending while shedding 30,000 roles. A survey found 94 percent of companies will continue AI investments regardless of returns.

This isn't efficiency. It's signaling. And the signal is being paid for by the people who trusted the system.

Episode 07. No fluff. Just what's actually happening.