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> AI will be great for big businesses, alright for small businesses, and catastrophic for many employees. Who's going to buy from these businesses if people do

> AI will be great for big businesses, alright for small businesses, and catastrophic for many employees. Who's going to buy from these businesses if people don't have jobs?

tivert 4y ago
> Who's going to buy from these businesses if people don't have jobs? Other businesses. If the "people don't have jobs" due to AI, consumer goods companies will go out of business, and society's resources will get redirected to non-consumer businesses and the passion projects of the ownership class.
- dehrmann 4y ago
  > Other businesses. Outside Soviet Russia, there has to be an end consumer in there somewhere. There isn't such a thing as a truly "non-consumer business."
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - tivert 4y ago
    > Outside Soviet Russia, there has to be an end consumer in there somewhere. There isn't such a thing as a truly "non-consumer business." And I answered that. The ultimate consumers will be a group of wealthy people who control the productive resources using AI and use them to pursue their personal goals. There will be some B2B exchanges between those people, and perhaps a smallish cadre of employees who's labor is still useful to the wealthy, but most commerce as we know it will grind to a halt because the vast majority workers' labor won't be valuable to those who could pay them.
    - sprpstn 4y ago
      With a significant portion of mass consumption missing, wealth would start to erode. Stable inequality could grow up to a certain point, but not without adverse effects on investments. You can only sustain wealth without consumers in an absolutely totalitarian society, but even there it would lead to a catastrophic societal collapse sooner or later. I think this is a dead angle for a lot of AI experts. That sudden bump in efficiency might ruin large parts of the markets businesseses are built upon.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- sprpstn 4y ago
  Consumption is the bottom line of economy. It isnt possible to substitute consumer goods businesses with non-consumer businesses on a larger scale since the latter also rest on consumption. Hence, "who's going to buy in case a significant portion lose their jobs" is a very good question.
inkcapmushroom 4y ago
Other businesses in an Ouroboros-type scenario.

> AI will be great for big businesses, alright for small businesses, and catastrophic for many employees. Who's going to buy from these businesses if people don't have jobs?

tivert 4y ago

> Who's going to buy from these businesses if people don't have jobs? Other businesses. If the "people don't have jobs" due to AI, consumer goods companies will go out of business, and society's resources will get redirected to non-consumer businesses and the passion projects of the ownership class.

dehrmann 4y ago
> Other businesses. Outside Soviet Russia, there has to be an end consumer in there somewhere. There isn't such a thing as a truly "non-consumer business."
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- tivert 4y ago
  > Outside Soviet Russia, there has to be an end consumer in there somewhere. There isn't such a thing as a truly "non-consumer business." And I answered that. The ultimate consumers will be a group of wealthy people who control the productive resources using AI and use them to pursue their personal goals. There will be some B2B exchanges between those people, and perhaps a smallish cadre of employees who's labor is still useful to the wealthy, but most commerce as we know it will grind to a halt because the vast majority workers' labor won't be valuable to those who could pay them.
  - sprpstn 4y ago
    With a significant portion of mass consumption missing, wealth would start to erode. Stable inequality could grow up to a certain point, but not without adverse effects on investments. You can only sustain wealth without consumers in an absolutely totalitarian society, but even there it would lead to a catastrophic societal collapse sooner or later. I think this is a dead angle for a lot of AI experts. That sudden bump in efficiency might ruin large parts of the markets businesseses are built upon.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
sprpstn 4y ago
Consumption is the bottom line of economy. It isnt possible to substitute consumer goods businesses with non-consumer businesses on a larger scale since the latter also rest on consumption. Hence, "who's going to buy in case a significant portion lose their jobs" is a very good question.

inkcapmushroom 4y ago

Other businesses in an Ouroboros-type scenario.