Automation will force us to realize that we are not defined by what we do

This story is part of What Happens Next, our complete guide to understanding the future. In March 2016, AlphaGo's deep learning algorithms ruthlessly dethroned mankind's best Go player. The whole world jittered, knowing that the same job-eating AI technology was coming soon to an office near everyone. Civilization has absorbed economic shocks driven by technology in the past, turning hundreds of millions of farmers into factory workers over the 19th and 20th centuries. However, these structural changes didn't arrive as quickly as the breakneck pace we're currently experiencing with AI.