Now, I\u2019m writing a second book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s called\u00a0The 25-Hour Week<\/em>.<\/span> And it begins with a simple, provocative idea:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What if the future of work wasn\u2019t more, but less?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That question might sound naive in today\u2019s climate. The headlines are full of anxiety: AI is coming for your job. Deepfake campaigns are undermining elections. Automation is about to render human labor obsolete. And yes\u2014those risks are real. But I think we\u2019re asking the wrong questions. Instead of asking what AI will take from us<\/em>, we should be asking:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What will AI free us to become?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What if we let machines do what they do best\u2014replicate, accelerate, calculate\u2014and we humans returned to what we were built for: storytelling, caring, creating, healing, playing, resting, learning, listening?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The <\/em>25-Hour Week is a book about that possibility. It\u2019s about reclaiming time as the most precious form of wealth. It\u2019s about moving from a culture that glorifies the grind to one that values presence, purpose, and participation. And it\u2019s about a future that doesn\u2019t leave the working class behind\u2014but lifts it into a new era of dignity, rest, and opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If Better Places<\/em> was about making our workplaces more human, The 15-Hour Future<\/em> is about making our whole lives more human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are at a crossroads. The recently passed \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d gave massive tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting social supports for working families. It reminded me of something stark: without a collective vision, the future doesn\u2019t arrive equally. It serves the powerful first. If we don\u2019t speak up\u2014if we don\u2019t offer a brighter alternative\u2014the same tools that could set us free will deepen inequality, loneliness, and exhaustion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But it doesn\u2019t have to be that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We already have the tools to shorten the workweek\u2014not just for tech workers, but for nurses, janitors, teachers, and gig workers. We already know from neuroscience that five focused hours of work is often more productive than ten distracted ones. We already know that rest fuels creativity, that joy boosts performance, and that communities thrive when people have time\u2014not just income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So why aren\u2019t we moving faster?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because we’re stuck in an outdated story. One that says our worth is measured in hours. One that says you earn your rest by grinding first. But that story is no longer sustainable\u2014economically, environmentally, or emotionally. It\u2019s time for a new one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In The 15-Hour Future<\/em>, I explore a vision where AI doesn\u2019t replace us\u2014it releases us. Where work becomes something we do with focus and meaning, not something that drains the best parts of us. Where we trade artificial consumption for real experiences. Cooking together. Learning a craft. Attending a neighbor\u2019s poetry night. Volunteering at a care home. Taking a hike. Being human.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are not made to grind 40, 50, 60 hours a week. And for the first time in history, we don\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This new book isn\u2019t a fantasy. It\u2019s a grounded, research-backed roadmap. It includes stories from frontline workers, business leaders, scientists, and communities already experimenting with shorter weeks. It lays out policy proposals, business cases, and cultural shifts needed to make this future real. And it offers something rare in today\u2019s conversation about AI and labor: hope.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the future doesn\u2019t just happen. It\u2019s written. And I want us to write one where everyone has time to live\u2014not just survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll be sharing more soon\u2014early chapters, stories from the road, and invitations to shape this conversation. If you\u2019ve felt the burnout. If you\u2019ve looked at your calendar and thought, \u201cIs this really what life is for?\u201d\u2014you\u2019re not alone. There\u2019s something better coming. And we need your voice in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for walking with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With hope and urgency, Da jeg skrev Better Places<\/em>, skrev jeg fra et dypt sted av b\u00e5de hastverk \u2013 og optimisme. Jeg trodde at arbeidsplassene v\u00e5re kunne bli forvandlet, ikke bare gjennom politikk, men gjennom mennesker som valgte \u00e5 lede med medf\u00f8lelse, tillit og autentisitet. Det som overrasket meg mest, var hvor mange av dere som allerede gikk den samme veien. Dere sendte meldinger. Delte historier. \u00c5pnet d\u00f8rer. Og det bekreftet noe jeg hadde mistenkt, men enn\u00e5 ikke satt ord p\u00e5: at vi alle, p\u00e5 v\u00e5r egen m\u00e5te, fors\u00f8ker \u00e5 bygge en bedre m\u00e5te \u00e5 leve og jobbe p\u00e5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n N\u00e5 skriver jeg en ny bok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Den heter The 25 Hour Week<\/em>. Og den begynner med en enkel, men provoserende id\u00e9:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hva om fremtidens arbeid ikke handler om mer \u2013 men mindre?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Det sp\u00f8rsm\u00e5let kan virke naivt i dagens klima. Overskriftene er fulle av angst: KI kommer for jobben din. Deepfakes undergraver valg. Automatisering gj\u00f8r menneskelig arbeidskraft overfl\u00f8dig. Og ja \u2013 disse risikoene er reelle. Men jeg tror vi stiller de feil sp\u00f8rsm\u00e5lene. I stedet for \u00e5 sp\u00f8rre hva KI vil ta fra oss, burde vi sp\u00f8rre:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hva vil KI frigj\u00f8re oss til \u00e5 bli?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hva om vi lot maskinene gj\u00f8re det de er best p\u00e5 \u2013 replikere, akselerere, kalkulere \u2013 og vi mennesker vendte tilbake til det vi er bygget for: \u00e5 fortelle historier, bry oss, skape, helbrede, leke, hvile, l\u00e6re, lytte?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 15-Hour Future<\/em> er en bok om den muligheten. Den handler om \u00e5 gjenerobre tiden som den mest verdifulle formen for rikdom. Den handler om \u00e5 bevege seg fra en kultur som glorifiserer slit og jag til en som verdsetter tilstedev\u00e6relse, mening og deltakelse. Og den handler om en fremtid som ikke etterlater arbeiderklassen \u2013 men l\u00f8fter den inn i en ny \u00e6ra av verdighet, hvile og muligheter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hvis Better Places<\/em> handlet om \u00e5 gj\u00f8re arbeidsplassen mer menneskelig, s\u00e5 handler The 15-Hour Future<\/em> om \u00e5 gj\u00f8re hele livet mer menneskelig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vi st\u00e5r ved et veiskille. Den nylig vedtatte “Big Beautiful Bill” ga massive skattelettelser til de rike, mens den kuttet sosiale st\u00f8tteordninger for arbeiderfamilier. Det minnet meg om noe brutalt: uten en felles visjon kommer ikke fremtiden likt til alle. Den tjener de mektige f\u00f8rst. Hvis vi ikke sier noe \u2013 hvis vi ikke tilbyr et lysere alternativ \u2013 vil de samme verkt\u00f8yene som kunne frigjort oss, i stedet forsterke ulikhet, ensomhet og utmattelse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Men det trenger ikke v\u00e6re slik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vi har allerede verkt\u00f8yene til \u00e5 forkorte arbeidsuken \u2013 ikke bare for teknologiarbeidere, men for sykepleiere, rengj\u00f8rere, l\u00e6rere og frilansere. Vi vet allerede fra nevrovitenskap at fem fokuserte arbeidstimer ofte er mer produktive enn ti distraherte. Vi vet allerede at hvile gir n\u00e6ring til kreativitet, at glede \u00f8ker prestasjonsevne, og at samfunn blomstrer n\u00e5r folk har tid \u2013 ikke bare inntekt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n S\u00e5 hvorfor g\u00e5r det ikke raskere?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fordi vi sitter fast i en utdatert fortelling. En som sier at v\u00e5r verdi m\u00e5les i timer. En som sier at du m\u00e5 fortjene hvilen gjennom \u00e5 slite f\u00f8rst. Men den fortellingen er ikke lenger b\u00e6rekraftig \u2013 verken \u00f8konomisk, milj\u00f8messig eller f\u00f8lelsesmessig. Det er p\u00e5 tide med en ny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I The 15-Hour Future<\/em> utforsker jeg en visjon der KI ikke erstatter oss \u2013 men frigj\u00f8r oss. Der arbeid blir noe vi gj\u00f8r med fokus og mening, ikke noe som tapper oss for det beste i oss. Der vi bytter ut kunstig forbruk med ekte opplevelser. Lage mat sammen. L\u00e6re et h\u00e5ndverk. G\u00e5 p\u00e5 en nabos poesikveld. V\u00e6re frivillig p\u00e5 et omsorgshjem. G\u00e5 en tur i skogen. V\u00e6re menneske.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vi er ikke skapt for \u00e5 jobbe 40, 50, 60 timer i uken. Og for f\u00f8rste gang i historien trenger vi ikke det heller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Denne nye boken er ikke en fantasi. Den er en jordn\u00e6r, forskningsbasert veiviser. Den inneholder historier fra f\u00f8rstelinjearbeidere, bedriftsledere, forskere og lokalsamfunn som allerede eksperimenterer med kortere arbeidsuker. Den legger frem politiske forslag, forretningsargumenter og kulturelle endringer som trengs for \u00e5 gj\u00f8re denne fremtiden virkelig. Og den tilbyr noe sjeldent i dagens samtale om KI og arbeid: h\u00e5p.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For fremtiden skjer ikke bare. Den skrives. Og jeg vil at vi skal skrive en fremtid der alle har tid til \u00e5 leve \u2013 ikke bare overleve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jeg vil dele mer snart \u2013 tidlige kapitler, historier fra veien, og invitasjoner til \u00e5 forme denne samtalen. Hvis du har kjent p\u00e5 utbrentheten. Hvis du har sett p\u00e5 kalenderen din og tenkt: “Er dette virkelig det livet er til for?” \u2013 du er ikke alene. Det er noe bedre p\u00e5 vei. Og vi trenger stemmen din.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takk for at du g\u00e5r sammen med meg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Med h\u00e5p og hastverk, That question might sound naive in today\u2019s climate. The headlines are full of anxiety: AI is coming for your job. Deepfake campaigns are undermining elections. Automation is about to render human labor obsolete. And yes\u2014those risks are real. But I think we\u2019re asking the wrong questions. Instead of asking what AI will take from us, we should be asking: Continue reading The 25 Hour Week<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238892274,"featured_media":622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[14067,12374,6,349],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-technology","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pf3Jag-9Z","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/betterplaces.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/create-a-high-resolution-highly-detailed-image-that-represents-the-concept.png?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/238892274"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":630,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions\/630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Robert<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/betterplaces.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/norwegian-flag.png?resize=672%2C504&ssl=1\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Robert<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"