‘Will AI take my job?’ A trip to a Beijing fortune-telling bar to see what lies ahead | China
IThe age of self -help, self -development and self -exchange age has not been searched for guidance. In cases where worried and uncertain ones may have once consulted a search engine for answers, we can now participate in a meaningful discussion about our Chatgpt problems. Or if you’re in China, Deepseek.
For some, our ancestors seem to know more about life than us. Or at least they knew how to call them. And so the scores of the young Chinese are directed to the forms of ex -prophecy to find out what the future is. In the last few years, the rods that describe healt in Chinese cities emerge and offer drinks and snacks. xuanxue– Or spirituality. The tendency logical: Chinese economy is struggling and consumers save their cents, but for a beverage, going out for a beverage is cheaper than other retail therapy or a real therapist. With a deep -rooted culture of mysticism that blends the Daoist, Buddhist and People’s practices, which defies the dozens of years when the government tries to stamped superstitious beliefs, it is perfect meaning to turn to those who do not appear for many Chinese people.
I decided to join them this week.
Mine xuanxue The election is Qie Le, a newly opened bar in the rich Chaoyang region of Beijing. On Thursday evening, the bar decorated with yellow Taoist charm and draped translucent curtains is quiet. It is better to attract the attention of the lecturer with questions from my deep narcissism wells. However, Wan Mo sees either because of his spiritual intuition or because I am not the first thousand -year -old person to seek his services. Certainly a question per drinking beverage.
Wan Mo, a 36 -year -old 36 -year -old Wan Mo, a 36 -year -old 36 -year -old wearing a loose white tang -style jacket attached with traditional Chinese nodes. Qiuqian– Or Chinese lottery sticks. The application includes the swing of a cylindrical wood container filled with wooden rods while focusing on a question in your mind. Finally, one of the bars engraved in text and numbers falls and a righteous narrator can interpret the answer. Qiuqian It is based on the Jin Dynasty (AD266 to AD420), and for centuries of war, turmoil, a cultural revolution and artificial intelligence, the Taoist temples and now Beijing cocktail bars come together.
So I hope that Qiuqian It will be well placed to answer my first question: Will AI get my job?
“Use both hands, Wan says Wan Moica. He’s a ridiculous savant. “Focus on your question.” As a stranger, he tells me that my connection with sticks may not be as deep as a Chinese person. So I need to “think carefully”.
After a few seconds, but after a strong shake, one but two sticks fall on the table between us.
Wan Mo is examining the first. “This rod means that AI will have an impact on your business later… Even if you are very talented, you cannot compete with the scale. For example, if you write an article, it can write 10. It will definitely affect you.”
This is not the spiritual salv I hope. Wan Mo says the second bar provides a timeline for professional surplus. “He says there will be no big impact in one to three years. But after three years, AI will become a great power.”
Wan Mo’s predictions do not leave me full of hope for my next question. But with the spirit xuanxue, I decided to try my luck again and order another tour. We take a short break to take Wan Mo to take a cigarette break and to catch up with a friend entering the bar. The attitude of Chipper suggests that AI has not yet discovered that he would take his job – or he just made peace with him.
Finally, I gathered enough liquid courage to ask my second question. Wan Mo’s ass sends a slight shudder from my hand, Qiuqian The second time box. Shake, shake, shake. Think, think, think. A single wooden rod falls from the captain.
“Will I get a wage increase?” I ask temporarily. The answer is disturbing quickly.
“There is not much possibility right now. [the stick] About the transition… It shows that there is no big change… There is a little hope, but not immediately. You need to make some personal adjustments. “
I ask what kind of personal adjustments I can make, hoping to order another drink to learn.
“If you want a payment increase, xuanxue It can only offer support. ” For example, to attract the bracelet I wear. It is made of natural materials… We recommend you to wear something like this. It can help bring some financial chances and have a positive effect. But the most important thing is still to communicate with the tops. “
I’m not sure if it means my spiritual or editorial superiors. But I have time with it. Wan Mo’s friend says that everyone comes to Qie Le with the same kind of questions: how to become rich, stay healthy, find love. The only thing I discovered is how determined my luck is in the first question and is too late to ask the second and third. I leave the house to sleep a little before starting the next day. I bet AI does not have to worry about feeling tired.
Lillian Yang’s additional research
