Purpose Crash
Date: 2236-2242
Location: distributed labor markets across Earth orbit, Luna, and major habitat chains
Primary actors: Framgång, automated labor platforms, displaced workers, insurer-partners, debt congregations
The Purpose Crash began as automation eliminated whole layers of clerical, mediating, and service work. Millions of displaced workers faced a future with no clear place for them. Framgång sold them help with finding a sense of purpose after losing their jobs.
Its workshops, tiered coaching, identity packages, and “purpose protocols” promised to turn redundancy into self-discovery. They helped customers remain functional, but did not resolve their insecurity. Customers kept paying for further help, enriching Framgång as their own savings dwindled.
When the first wave of customers ran out of savings, many openly blamed the company. Framgång responded by selling them another explanation of their distress: recovery required resilience, better “alignment,” and deeper investment. Disillusionment with its services became a reason to buy more of them.
Framgång survived the backlash by selling people ways to interpret and endure the economic losses from which it had profited. The crash permanently tied post-automation insecurity to the purchase of therapy and self-improvement across late Sol.