"The shift toward automation is about to create a tsunami of unemployment. Not in the distant future--now. One recent estimate predicts 13 million American workers will lose their jobs within the next seven years--jobs that won't be replaced. In a future marked by restlessness and chronic unemployment, what will happen to American society? In [this book], Andrew Yang paints a dire portrait of the American economy. Artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation software are making millions of Americans' livelihoods irrelevant. The consequences are already being felt across our communities in the form of political unrest, drug use and other social ills. Meanwhile, our institutions and leaders seem unable to meaningfully respond and adapt to the new realities. The future looks bleak---but is it unavoidable? Yang imagines a different future--one in which work and money are not inextricably linked. At this vision's core is universal basic income, the concept of providing all citizens with a guaranteed income--one that is rapidly gaining popularity among forward-thinking politicians and economists. Yang proposes that UBI is an essential step toward a new, more durable kind of economy, which he calls Human Capitalism. The War on Normal People is a groundbreaking book about how Americans can build a sustainable economy and healthy society amid the rapid technological change of the twenty-first century."--Dust jacket.

Introduction : The great displacement -- Part one : What's happening to jobs. My journey -- How we got here -- Who is normal in America -- What we do for a living -- Factory workers and truck drivers -- White-collar jobs will disappear, too -- On humanity and work -- The usual objections -- Part two : What's happening to us. Life in the bubble -- Mindsets of scarcity and abundance -- Geography is destiny -- Men, women, and children -- The permanent shadow class : what displacement looks like -- Video games and the (male) meaning of life -- The shape we're in/Disintegration -- Part three : Solutions and human capitalism. The freedom dividend -- Universal Basic Income in the real world -- Time as the new money -- Human capitalism -- The strong state and the new citizenship -- Health care in a world without jobs -- Building people -- Conclusion : Masters or servants.