The worrying over the effects of extreme AI always strike as being a peculiar quirk of human psychology. It's a hypothetical worry, about a hypothetical problem

The worrying over the effects of extreme AI always strike as being a peculiar quirk of human psychology. It's a hypothetical worry, about a hypothetical problem, when there are actual problems happening now, that could be addressed. For example, there is a the phenomenon of increasing income disparity in developed economies. It seems like the solutions to this problem should be much easier than the challenges of creating advanced AI, thereby displacing even more workers, and then solving the problems created by the displacement of workers. Given that corporate profits have been pretty good, changes to the tax and regulatory environment that would encourage modest shifts of those profits from owners and managers, to labor, would go a long way towards relieving real economic stress for individuals and communities. There have been virulent, and absurd, political movements that have supported this system that is shifting the surplus of the economy ever more to the "haves." I'm not going to pretend I understand the sociology behind this, but there is some low hanging fruit I can see. One is the increasing influence of money in our electoral system. Citizens United didn't have to decided the way it did. Humans chose this. We could choose different. We are starting to see cracks in the alliances that make up both the Democratic and Republican party. Perhaps there is an opportunity for more a modicum of more progressive ideas to take hold. As some other posters have alluded to, one possible solution to the economic displacement of automation would be to increase cooperative ownership of the "means of production." In my town, the local food coop is incredibly successful, and has just opened a third store. They had around $50 million in sales last year, with a small profit. I think the managerial philosophy is to aim for a modest profit, and to provide a living for the workers, food for the community, and social capital to the neighborhoods they operate in. This is a complicated, and mysterious, area of human endeavor. But attempting the social engineering to make the US economy more "progressive," as well as mm more productive would go a long way. I am hoping, for example, the abject failure of the Republicans to craft a plausible health care plan might break the spell this malignant political party commands over a disturbingly large segment of the voters. For all of their manifest flaws, I think the Democrats have never succumbed to the kind of blatant "know-nothing-ism" of the Republicans, with their repugnant "guns, God, and gays" messaging. Again, not easy, but doable. And this is all happening right now. The singularity is an imaginary scenario, st this point!