At a U.S.-Saudi investment forum last month, Elon Musk, father of 14 children, said that in an AI-rich future only 10 or 20 percent of people will need a job, with most work handled by robots —a world he’s framed as compatible with some form of "universal high income." He meant it as a benign future scenario. Within days, Beijing offered a real-world stress test for that scenario.

China announced it will add a 13 percent tax to condoms and other contraceptives —ending a three-decade exemption—just as a Shenzhen robotics firm signed $37 million deal to deploy humanoids at border crossings near Vietnam. The robots will guide travelers, haul boxes, and even swap their own batteries. Births in China, meanwhile, are still running below deaths. In other words: Beijing is taxing the prophyla

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