Just in time society

Humanity is good at adapting (I wrote about that in We adapt, we always have in October), and the more I read about it the more it looks like we have this just in time societal rearrangement based on what is happening around us. A problem shows up, it gets bad, and then society rearranges itself, rarely early, and so far not too late.

The industrial revolution

Between 1780 and 1840 output per worker in Britain rose 46%, while the real wage of working people rose about 12%. The economic historian Robert Allen called it Engels' pause, after Friedrich Engels, who wrote about how working people lived through it ^[1]. The machines made the country a lot richer, and very little of it reached the people working them.

Then society caught up. The Factory Act of 1833 banned factory work for children under nine, limited children aged nine to thirteen to eight hours a day, and set up an inspectorate (four inspectors for about 4,000 mills, so it was widely evaded at first) ^[2]. In 1848 Parliament passed the Public Health Act and set up a General Board of Health, for towns whose drainage and crowding had become a breeding ground for typhus and cholera, and the cholera epidemic of 1848 to 1849 still killed 53,293 people ^[3]. And from 1840 to 1900 the real wage rose 123% while output per worker rose 90%, so wages grew faster than output ^[1].

It took decades and it cost a lot of lives, and it wasn't a plan anyone wrote in advance.

The NHS

The NHS is the clearest case I know. In November 1942, in the middle of the war, the government published the Beveridge Report, which proposed a system of benefits to end want, with free healthcare at its centre, and most people supported it ^[4]. The NHS opened on 5 July 1948, three years after a ruinous total war, and by then about 95% of the population had registered ^[4].

A stronger morality

I think we're doing it again now, and one place I see it is our morality getting stronger. Jimmy Savile died in 2011 without ever being charged, and in 2013 a report by the Metropolitan Police and the NSPCC recorded 450 people coming forward about him, for offences reported between 1955 and 2009, more than fifty years ^[5].

Look at the last eighteen months instead. In May 2025 a Paris court convicted Gérard Depardieu of sexually assaulting two women on a film set ^[6]. Harvey Weinstein's first New York conviction was overturned in 2024, and at the retrial in June 2025 he was convicted of a criminal sexual act and sentenced to 15 years in September 2026 ^[7]. And today, 9 November 2026, Southwark Crown Court sentenced Russell Brand to ten years and six months, after a jury found him guilty last week of one count of rape and three of sexual assault ^[8]. Being famous doesn't protect people the way it used to.

Tools smarter than us

We've adapted to tools more powerful than us already. A steam engine was stronger than any worker, a car is faster than any runner, and a calculator does sums no person can. What's different now is that the tools are getting smarter than us, and the first part of it looks a lot like Engels' pause to me.

The IMF said in January 2024 that AI will affect almost 40% of jobs in the world and about 60% in advanced economies, and Kristalina Georgieva said that "in most scenarios, AI will likely worsen overall inequality" ^[9]. It's starting from a big gap already. The World Inequality Report 2026 found that the richest 10% of people own about three quarters of all personal wealth and the poorest half own about 2% ^[10]. I think the gap will get larger first, as the companies and people who adopt AI earliest take most of the gains, the same way the mill owners did.

But I think the stronger morality is arriving just in time to address it. A society that now puts its most famous people in prison for what they did is one that will look hard at who gets the gains from AI, and I expect the same kind of rearrangement as the Factory Acts and the NHS, rules and institutions that make sure it eventually benefits everyone. I don't know what they'll be called or how long our pause will last. The last one lasted about half a century, and things move a lot faster now.

Society and AI

Society is cool and AI is as well, in complementary ways. We just tend to focus on the conflicting ones more, because a story about AI taking jobs gets read and a story about AI helping a nurse finish her notes before the end of her shift doesn't.

People are good at deciding together what's fair, and at changing their minds about it when the world changes, and AI is getting good at a lot of the rest. I'm curious what our version of the NHS will be, and I'd like to be around to help build it.

References

Read on 9 November 2026.

1. [1]Robert C. Allen, Engels' pause, technical change, capital accumulation, and inequality in the British industrial revolution, Explorations in Economic History, 2009. Source for output per worker rising 46% and the real wage about 12% between 1780 and 1840, the name Engels' pause, and output per worker rising about 90% and the real wage about 123% from 1840 to 1900. nuffield.ox.ac.uk
2. [2]UK Parliament, Living Heritage, The 1833 Factory Act. Source for the ban on factory work under nine, the eight-hour limit for children aged nine to thirteen, and the four inspectors for about 4,000 mills, which left the Act widely evaded. parliament.uk
3. [3]The National Archives, Cholera and public health in mid-19th century Britain. Source for poor drainage and crowding in towns breeding typhus and cholera, the Public Health Act of 1848 and the General Board of Health, and the 1848 to 1849 epidemic killing 53,293 people. media.nationalarchives.gov.uk
4. [4]The National Archives, The foundation of the NHS. Source for the Beveridge Report of November 1942 and its aim to end want with free healthcare at its centre, most people supporting it, the NHS opening on 5 July 1948, three years after a ruinous total war, and about 95% of the population registering. nationalarchives.gov.uk
5. [5]Wikipedia, Giving Victims a Voice, the report by the Metropolitan Police Service and the NSPCC published on 11 January 2013. Source for Savile dying in 2011, two earlier police investigations in his lifetime leading to no charges, 450 people coming forward about him, and offences reported between 1955 and 2009. en.wikipedia.org
6. [6]CBC News, Gérard Depardieu convicted of sexual assault, May 2025. Source for a Paris court convicting Depardieu of sexually assaulting two women on the set of Les Volets Verts, with an 18-month suspended sentence. cbc.ca
7. [7]Wikipedia, Harvey Weinstein. Source for his 2020 New York conviction being overturned on 25 April 2024, his conviction at the retrial on 11 June 2025 of one count of criminal sexual act, and his sentence of 15 years on 23 September 2026. en.wikipedia.org
8. [8]Forbes, Mary Roeloffs, Russell Brand sentenced to 10 years in prison following rape conviction, 9 November 2026. Source for Southwark Crown Court sentencing Brand to ten years and six months on 9 November 2026, after a jury found him guilty the week before of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. forbes.com
9. [9]RNZ, AI to hit 40 percent of jobs and worsen inequality, IMF says, 15 January 2024. Source for what RNZ reported of the IMF's analysis and Kristalina Georgieva's words, almost 40% of jobs worldwide and about 60% in advanced economies affected, and "in most scenarios, AI will likely worsen overall inequality". rnz.co.nz
10. [10]Al Jazeera, Where in the world are wealth and income most unequal?, 10 December 2025. Source for what Al Jazeera reported of the World Inequality Report 2026, the richest 10% owning about three quarters of personal wealth and the poorest half about 2%. aljazeera.com