# People need purpose as AI makes work less necessary

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/people-need-purpose-as-ai-makes-work-less-necessary/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Francis Foster](https://realalpha.app/people/francis-foster/) · Comedian
- Host: [Joe Rogan](https://realalpha.app/people/joe-rogan/) · Host, The Joe Rogan Experience
- Show: The Joe Rogan Experience
- Episode: [Joe Rogan Experience #2574 - Francis Foster & Konstantin Kisin](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/), Oct 31, 2026
- Moment: 2:10:46 to 2:18:01 of the episode (7 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/people-need-purpose-as-ai-makes-work-less-necessary/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=7846

## Quote

> “Useful and **part of something**. And he said something to me that actually kind of teared me up. He went, can I come back tomorrow and do more?”
> — [Francis Foster](https://realalpha.app/people/francis-foster/) at [2:11:55](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=7915) · The Joe Rogan Experience

## Takeaways

1. Useful work can give people pride and belonging.
2. Education could help people discover interests, not just prepare for jobs.
3. A guaranteed income still leaves people needing purpose.

## About this segment

Francis Foster recalls a struggling pupil who found pride in a useful task, then Joe argues that people can pursue interests if AI reduces the need to work. Income alone may not replace purpose.

From “Joe Rogan Experience #2574 - Francis Foster & Konstantin Kisin”, Oct 31, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[2:10:51](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=7851) oh so i'll give you an i'll give you an example of something oh so when i was teaching i taught a kid he was very low ability he really struggled academically so we i gave him work which was you know which was less challenging than other kids sometimes he would be okay sometimes he would play up because he understandably had self-esteem issues one day he was playing up really really badly and I said Chris look you're going to be in detention and I wanted to I never believed in just detention getting kids to be bored I wanted him to be useful and I was giving him what I thought was a punishment I said Chris you see all the pencils in the classroom every single pencil I'm talking about colored pencils I'm talking about ordinary I want them sharpened and I want them perfect because we've got an art lesson after lunch he went and did it and when he brought the

[2:11:43](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=7903) pencils back to me he was so happy he was so proud because he felt useful because he felt useful and he said and i saw a side of him that i'd never seen before because finally he got given a job that he could do he could do to a very high standard and he was Useful and part of something. And he said something to me that actually kind of teared me up. He went, can I come back tomorrow and do more? So he felt good. He felt good that he was useful. And I think most people do.

[2:12:14](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=7934) The real question is, is it possible to teach people differently in school? So instead of teaching people facts that they need to memorize and having to sit in a chair and making sure that you're doing everything that you're told, because someday you're going to have to have a job and you're going to have to learn how to behave this way. Is it possible that you could teach people, listen, money is not the problem anymore.

[2:12:36](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=7956) Resources in terms of like your ability to feed yourself and put a roof over your head, that's not an issue anymore. Now your life is about pursuing your interests. But we have to teach people that from the jump. We have to teach people that from the time they're very young. The older people that are set in their ways, they're going to have a very difficult time changing and adapting. But – and then also people are going to have a very hard time having the same kind of motivation that people have when they grow up poor.

[2:13:05](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=7985) That's a superpower. Growing up poor is a superpower because it gives you a motivation like a drive that I don't think you get if you're a trust fund kid and your parents are worth a lot of money. So we're going to have to teach people to have internal motivation instead of external motivation. And we're going to have to teach people that there is a great benefit to doing things that you don't want to do and then seeing the result to, you know, just putting off any sort of enjoyment that you might possibly have in the present time so that you can have more enjoyment in the future because you did that.

[2:13:40](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=8020) You sacrificed and you figured something out. But we have to teach them that way of thinking. If you could teach them that, listen, man, you don't have to worry about money anymore, but that doesn't mean you don't have to worry about life. Like there's a lot of cool things that you can find that you can do with your life. But now do those things and get a sense of purpose from you learning about yourself while you're pursuing whatever it is, whether it's becoming an author or whether it's making things, whatever it is.

[2:14:05](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=8045) find a thing that you like and then teach people how to find the thing that interests them rather than finding just some menial bullshit job that's going to keep them depressed and just barely pay their bills i noticed this with my son the thing he loves to do with me the most is like paint the fence to him that's like the happiest time that we have together see progress we we go and do something together that he feels is valuable he's learning he's doing it with me obviously you know father and son time as well but but he would much rather paint a fence with me than he would play a game much rather interesting it's more it's more meaningful for him right he's accomplishing something yeah and learning a skill and like you said you know yeah there's stuff that people can do we have only been doing this thing this show up at a job and and doing working in

[2:14:57](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=8097) an office and going to a city this is super fucking recent in human history it's one of the reasons why subsistence tribes are so much happier than us because we've been doing that forever and the human reward systems are structured in a way that like if you hunt and fish and grow your own food that's normal like you're you've you've very little anxiety that's that the great werner herzog documentary happy people you know that documentary about the people in siberia tell me about it oh it's called happy people life in the taiga and it's all about these uh fishermen and trappers and hunters that live in siberia that have like no mental illness they're all just happy and they live a completely subsistence lifestyle in one of the most brutal climates on earth it fucking siberia and you know and they they're fine they're having a good time we're fucked up and we think oh

[2:15:48](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=8148) my god i could ever live like that but you're not happy but they are happy what is our goal is our goal to be happy because this thing that we've created these jobs in in corporations and in Cubicles and this thing that is normal for us is not really normal for us. And we've kind of decided somewhere along the way that this is the only way, that you have to have a job. Without a job, what do we do? What about the idea that something that the human race has created no longer makes it necessary for you to do a job anymore?

[2:16:21](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=8181) Now, instead of worrying about hunting and gathering food, the next stage of being human is pursuing interests. I mean it could be a gigantic explosion of creativity and of innovation and art. And who knows what people can do, especially with the access to technology that we have today and all the different things that people can – we're just assuming that this way that we live that sucks, that everybody hates, is the only way to live.

[2:16:50](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=8210) And I just don't buy that. I mean, clearly I'm biased because clearly I went through all those process of being poor and struggling and figuring out a way in life and then trying a bunch of very difficult things that other people avoided and finding a path. But I don't know if that's the only way to live and I don't think it is I think there's a competitive drive in people that exist no matter what and if we're not competing over finances anymore Maybe we'll compete over art or accomplishments or creativity or fill in the blank like whatever you decide to pursue And of course you're probably going to make more money doing that on top of the money you already get It's not like we're gonna go into a full communist state where the entire population only get $500,000 a year we take from the billionaires we distribute evenly. No, that's not what we're saying

[2:17:44](https://realalpha.app/v/a2K-AHeZ3o0/?t=8264) We're saying like you start out with the 500,000 whatever it is I don't know what the numbers gonna be start out with that and then you can still make money on top of that if you want But do you have the drive to live a special life deliver fulfilled an interesting life?