SPEED'S WORK - An Autistic Intervention in the Concept of Work In the Age of AI and Robotics

Speed’s Work is one of the most radical and urgent confrontations with the modern concept of labour and its underlying social values. Timothy Speed — autistic artist, labour theorist, and human rights activist — has worked mostly unpaid for 27 years and was caught in a relentless struggle with the German state. But this is not a personal story of hardship. It raises a fundamental question: What is the true value of work in a society ruled by capitalist logic? At a time when creativity, care, and cultural labour are systematically devalued and replaced by economic metrics, Speed asserts that his work is not marginal but vital. Like 80% of autistic people — and countless cultural workers — he earns nothing. Yet his work contributes to society in ways that markets refuse to recognise: as care, critique, and creative intervention. While the state forces him into poverty and criminalises his refusal to conform to capitalist norms, Speed uses his autistic capacity for pattern recognition to expose abuses in courts, corporations, and public institutions. His investigations and public interventions reveal structural violence — and bring to light what society prefers to conceal. With his concept of „work-integrated relational agency,“ Speed proposes a new definition of labour: humane, creative, rooted in relationships, and oriented toward social rather than merely economic value. In a world increasingly shaped by robotics and AI, he argues that resisting mechanised work structures is not just legitimate, but essential to preserving human dignity and civic responsibility. This is more than an autobiographical account. It is a manifesto for justice. A sharp critique of capitalist dehumanisation. And a roadmap toward a self-determined future of work. Speed insists that 21st-century labour must do more than produce goods or services — it must nourish and sustain the social fabric. Especially in an era of automation, he calls for a radical revaluation of artistic and care work as the foundation of a truly humane society. This book is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how labour, the individual, and society are deeply entangled — how racist and exclusionary capitalist systems really are — and how rethinking the meaning of work could help solve some of the most urgent crises of our time.