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Humans are tribal and want power and resources as signifiers of status. Worrying about AI becoming the masters of humanity has got to be one of the weirdest for

Humans are tribal and want power and resources as signifiers of status. Worrying about AI becoming the masters of humanity has got to be one of the weirdest forms of status anxiety. To make this article even more hilarious, the prescription to the problem is more status for the author and his buddies.

jamesgreenleaf 4y ago
I think you've got it backwards. Humans desire status because it represents power, not the other way around. Loss of power, by which I mean the ability to enact one's will on reality, is a death-knell to any living creature.
rodgerd 4y ago
Billionaires who lord it over the bulk of humanity no longer fear a French revolution style ending to their greed. They're afraid of the machines they're building. (And effective altruism is a scam designed to lend a thin veneer of credibility to naked greed)
- eru 4y ago
  > Billionaires who lord it over the bulk of humanity no longer fear a French revolution style ending to their greed. Why do you bring up the French Revolution? That was mostly an uprising against the aristocratic Ancien Régime of France. Meanwhile the fabulously rich actual capitalists over in England were fine, and stayed fine; never a revolution there.
  - HKH2 4y ago
    > Meanwhile the fabulously rich actual capitalists over in England were fine, and stayed fine; never a revolution there. Did they fear a French revolution style ending to their greed?
- fallingknife 4y ago
  Why would anybody want to rebel against billionaires? They have no authority over me and have taken nothing from me.
  - jschveibinz 4y ago
    Not to be pedantic, but I’ll answer your question rhetorically: People want to go after billionaires because the common misunderstanding is that there is a limited supply of money/wealth, and the billionaires have “hoarded” it all and made it unavailable to everyone else. And, there is jealousy. As you say, I agree that generally the net worth of certain individuals has no bearing on anyone else’s life or fortunes except for 1. the positive economic impact (e.g. billionaires spending money), 2. the positive tax and infrastructure impact, 3. the positive impact of donations to nonprofits, or 4. the potentially negative political impact (e.g. billionaires sending money to politicians) if one is aligned with a different political ideology. Generally, a large yacht parked in the harbor or an expensive sports car on the highway does not affect anyone—-it just makes them feel bad.
    - johnbcoughlin 4y ago
      High net worth spending has a large opportunity cost. Of course some people are employed making yachts, but they could instead be employed in more useful productive enterprises. That is, wealth inequality generates a misallocation of the productive capacity of society. It's perfectly reasonable to oppose that.

jamesgreenleaf 4y ago

I think you've got it backwards. Humans desire status because it represents power, not the other way around. Loss of power, by which I mean the ability to enact one's will on reality, is a death-knell to any living creature.

rodgerd 4y ago

Billionaires who lord it over the bulk of humanity no longer fear a French revolution style ending to their greed. They're afraid of the machines they're building. (And effective altruism is a scam designed to lend a thin veneer of credibility to naked greed)

eru 4y ago
> Billionaires who lord it over the bulk of humanity no longer fear a French revolution style ending to their greed. Why do you bring up the French Revolution? That was mostly an uprising against the aristocratic Ancien Régime of France. Meanwhile the fabulously rich actual capitalists over in England were fine, and stayed fine; never a revolution there.
- HKH2 4y ago
  > Meanwhile the fabulously rich actual capitalists over in England were fine, and stayed fine; never a revolution there. Did they fear a French revolution style ending to their greed?
fallingknife 4y ago
Why would anybody want to rebel against billionaires? They have no authority over me and have taken nothing from me.
- jschveibinz 4y ago
  Not to be pedantic, but I’ll answer your question rhetorically: People want to go after billionaires because the common misunderstanding is that there is a limited supply of money/wealth, and the billionaires have “hoarded” it all and made it unavailable to everyone else. And, there is jealousy. As you say, I agree that generally the net worth of certain individuals has no bearing on anyone else’s life or fortunes except for 1. the positive economic impact (e.g. billionaires spending money), 2. the positive tax and infrastructure impact, 3. the positive impact of donations to nonprofits, or 4. the potentially negative political impact (e.g. billionaires sending money to politicians) if one is aligned with a different political ideology. Generally, a large yacht parked in the harbor or an expensive sports car on the highway does not affect anyone—-it just makes them feel bad.
  - johnbcoughlin 4y ago
    High net worth spending has a large opportunity cost. Of course some people are employed making yachts, but they could instead be employed in more useful productive enterprises. That is, wealth inequality generates a misallocation of the productive capacity of society. It's perfectly reasonable to oppose that.