New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) When machines or artificial intelligence (AI) replace human effort, humanity would be forced inward, seeking meaning rather than material survival, and in that world, India — not China or the West — could emerge as the most influential civilisation through its millennia-long engagement with the nature of consciousness, according to a new report.

Jan Krikke writes in Asia Times that India will lead the way in a post-work world.

Macrohistorian Lawrence Taub predicted that around mid-century, automation, artificial intelligence and “free energy” would make the ‘Worker Age’ obsolete, forcing societies to confront a vacuum of identity.

“If the 19th century harnessed physical power and the 20th century harnessed information, the 21st century will have to harness consciousness. The new competition will not be about production but about meaning,” the article stated.

And no country symbolises the ‘Worker Age’ more completely than China.

“Its Confucian ethic of discipline, hierarchy, and collective harmony produced the most remarkable industrial transformation in history. Within four decades, it lifted nearly a billion people out of extreme poverty, built megacities overnight and became the factory floor of the world,” the article argued.

China represents the perfection — and the exhaustion — of the ‘Worker Age’.

“If China embodies material mastery, India embodies inner mastery. For millennia, Indian civilisation has explored the dimensions of consciousness that modern neuroscience is only beginning to map,” stated the article.

The Upanishads examined the relationship between mind and reality; the Bhagavad Gita offered a psychology of action without attachment; Yoga and Vedanta developed rigorous techniques for self-inquiry and emotional regulation.

“Unlike most civilisations, India never separated the metaphysical from the mundane. The daily and the divine have always intertwined—from meditation before meals to rituals that mark the passage of time. This integration may prove decisive in a post-work era when people seek coherence rather than consumption,” according to the article.

In a world where AI can outthink but not understand, India’s traditions provide frameworks for insight — how to observe, interpret and live consciously.

“That may become the most valuable skill of all,” said the article.

–IANS

na/vd