3 ms·
We have, as a civilization, two paths before us: a) Decouple the value of human life from labour. b) Watch as the value of human life rapidly approaches zero.
by andai 7mo ago
We have, as a civilization, two paths before us:
a) Decouple the value of human life from labour.
b) Watch as the value of human life rapidly approaches zero.
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Though I'd expand this by adding "technically alive" is not a very good standard to aim for. Ostensibly we're already heading for something like poverty level UBI + living in pod + eating the proverbial bugs. We need a level above that!
A great exploration of the pitfalls of "preserve humanity" as a reward function is the video game SOMA. I think you also need "preserve dignity" to make the life actually worth living.
(Path `a` is not without its pitfalls: what lack of survival pressure might do to the human culture and genome, I leave as an exercise for the reader! But path `b` I think we already have enough examples of, to know better...)
- bluefirebrand 7mo ago> We have, as a civilization, two paths before us You forgot C: Butlerian Jihad. mass outlaw AI research, AI usage, AI building, AI infrastructure, on penalty of death It may not be a good option but it's there
- NeutralCrane 7mo agoThis will literally never happen so it is not worth considering
- hollerith 7mo agoJust keep telling everyone that and hope they keep believing you.
- patrick451 7mo agoExactly. At the very least, we should be treating AI like nuclear weapons. It can exist but it should be locked away and never used.
- Throaway199999 7mo agoWhen the value of human labour reaches zero the economy will collapse so that will be interesting.
- mitthrowaway2 7mo agoI don't see that as a guaranteed outcome if there's something like UBI to sustain demand, and automation to sustain supply.
- Throaway199999 7mo agoUBI is only valuable if money is valuable though...what are you going to trade it for if no one has a job and everyone has access to super powerful production tools like advanced LLMs (which are at the low end of automated tooling overall)?
- andai 7mo agoIdk, food and shelter? "Vibe coding a house" will increase housing supply, (and automation at every step of supply chain too), but the costs will still be nonzero.
- Throaway199999 7mo agoBut just like labour, commodities are also going to go heavily down, exactly because of the automation you describe. In addition, it's all fine and good to say "people will still need to buy food clothes an shelter" But what is the price gonna be? Who can afford it if no one has a job? Who's going to sell it and to who? For what profit?