3 ms·

This is our one chance to reach the fabled post-scarcity society. If we fail at this now, we'll end up in a totalitarian cyberpunk dystopia instead.

nkozyra 7mo ago
I don't want to spoil it for you, but ...
ijeifnekfjekd 7mo ago
What? In what way does companies becoming dependent on AI chatbots will solve the world-spanning problem of resource scarcity? The hell?
- juleiie 7mo ago
  The idea is that cheap and readily available and upgradeable intelligence is going to massively increase our purchasing power and what everyone can order for the same cost basically. If artificial doctors are cents on hour then you can see how that changes our behaviors and level of life. But on the other hand from the other direction there is a wage decrease incoming from increased competition at the same time. What happens if these two forces clash? Will cheap labour allow us to buy anything for pennies or will it just make us unable to make a single penny? In my view the labour will fundamentally shift with great pain and personal tragedies to the areas that are not replaceable by AI (because no one wants to watch robots play chess). Such as sports, entertainment and showmanship. Handcrafted goods. Arts. Attention based economy. Self advertisement. Digital prostitution in a very broad sense. However before it gets there it will be a great deal of strife and turmoil that could plunge the world into dark ages for a while at least. It is unlikely for our somewhat politically rigid society to adapt without great deal of pain. Additionally I am not sure if hypothetical future attention based society could be a utopia. You could have to mount cameras in your house so other people see you at all times for amusement just to have any money at all. We will probably forever need to sell something to someone and I am unsettled by ideas what can we sell if we cannot sell our hard work. Someone who sees the roads ahead should now make preparations at government level for this shock but it will come too fast and with people at the steering wheel that don’t exactly care.
  - mxkopy 7mo ago
    We could also literally have Star Trek. Think of all the scientific discoveries we could make if we had armies of scientists the size of our labor force. But we will have to (painfully) shed our current hierarchies before that comes to pass.
    - juleiie 7mo ago
      Maybe so but humans have this strange primal need to hoard resources. Probably a remnant from prehistoric times when it was a matter of life and death. Will we ever be able to overcome this basic instinct that made capitalism such an unstoppable force? Will this ancient PTSD be ever cured?
      - mxkopy 7mo ago
        I find the insinuation that mental illness is a fundamental part of the human experience to be deeply revolting. There is no excuse for hoarders and rapists.
        deleted 7mo ago
        [deleted]
    - krainboltgreene 7mo ago
      Man if only there was a singular episode that covered this exact topic in Star Trek and resolved that no, actually slavery wasn't any different for artificial life.
      - linkregister 7mo ago
        Star Trek was entertaining television. There was also an episode where the ship's doctor made love to a ghost.
        krainboltgreene 7mo ago
- inquirerGeneral 7mo ago
  [dead]
- CamperBob2 7mo ago
  Chatbots, no. Robots, maybe.
hackable_sand 7mo ago
Weird predicament you've set for yourself there. Good luck with whatever you got going on.
TurdF3rguson 7mo ago
But cyberpunk is the best kind of dystopia!
- onemoresoop 7mo ago
  Sorry for my foul language but I think we will turn into cybershit if things go bad.
mikercampbell 7mo ago
Manufactured Scarcity is the new post-scarcity
- kridsdale1 7mo ago
  At least NFTs failed hard.
apical_dendrite 7mo ago
Just a year ago, Elon Musk was gleefully destroying the US government agency that provides food and medicine for many of the poorest, most desperate people on earth. He was literally tweeting about missing out on great parties to put USAID into the "wood chipper". The tech overlords don't even want to spend a minuscule percentage of the federal budget helping starving people, even when it benefits the US. They are not going to give us a post-scarcity society.

nkozyra 7mo ago

I don't want to spoil it for you, but ...

ijeifnekfjekd 7mo ago

What? In what way does companies becoming dependent on AI chatbots will solve the world-spanning problem of resource scarcity? The hell?

juleiie 7mo ago
The idea is that cheap and readily available and upgradeable intelligence is going to massively increase our purchasing power and what everyone can order for the same cost basically. If artificial doctors are cents on hour then you can see how that changes our behaviors and level of life. But on the other hand from the other direction there is a wage decrease incoming from increased competition at the same time. What happens if these two forces clash? Will cheap labour allow us to buy anything for pennies or will it just make us unable to make a single penny? In my view the labour will fundamentally shift with great pain and personal tragedies to the areas that are not replaceable by AI (because no one wants to watch robots play chess). Such as sports, entertainment and showmanship. Handcrafted goods. Arts. Attention based economy. Self advertisement. Digital prostitution in a very broad sense. However before it gets there it will be a great deal of strife and turmoil that could plunge the world into dark ages for a while at least. It is unlikely for our somewhat politically rigid society to adapt without great deal of pain. Additionally I am not sure if hypothetical future attention based society could be a utopia. You could have to mount cameras in your house so other people see you at all times for amusement just to have any money at all. We will probably forever need to sell something to someone and I am unsettled by ideas what can we sell if we cannot sell our hard work. Someone who sees the roads ahead should now make preparations at government level for this shock but it will come too fast and with people at the steering wheel that don’t exactly care.
- mxkopy 7mo ago
  We could also literally have Star Trek. Think of all the scientific discoveries we could make if we had armies of scientists the size of our labor force. But we will have to (painfully) shed our current hierarchies before that comes to pass.
  - juleiie 7mo ago
    Maybe so but humans have this strange primal need to hoard resources. Probably a remnant from prehistoric times when it was a matter of life and death. Will we ever be able to overcome this basic instinct that made capitalism such an unstoppable force? Will this ancient PTSD be ever cured?
    - mxkopy 7mo ago
      I find the insinuation that mental illness is a fundamental part of the human experience to be deeply revolting. There is no excuse for hoarders and rapists.
      - deleted 7mo ago
        [deleted]
  - krainboltgreene 7mo ago
    Man if only there was a singular episode that covered this exact topic in Star Trek and resolved that no, actually slavery wasn't any different for artificial life.
    - linkregister 7mo ago
      Star Trek was entertaining television. There was also an episode where the ship's doctor made love to a ghost.
      - krainboltgreene 7mo ago
inquirerGeneral 7mo ago
[dead]
CamperBob2 7mo ago
Chatbots, no. Robots, maybe.

hackable_sand 7mo ago

Weird predicament you've set for yourself there. Good luck with whatever you got going on.

TurdF3rguson 7mo ago

But cyberpunk is the best kind of dystopia!

onemoresoop 7mo ago
Sorry for my foul language but I think we will turn into cybershit if things go bad.

mikercampbell 7mo ago

Manufactured Scarcity is the new post-scarcity

kridsdale1 7mo ago
At least NFTs failed hard.

apical_dendrite 7mo ago

Just a year ago, Elon Musk was gleefully destroying the US government agency that provides food and medicine for many of the poorest, most desperate people on earth. He was literally tweeting about missing out on great parties to put USAID into the "wood chipper". The tech overlords don't even want to spend a minuscule percentage of the federal budget helping starving people, even when it benefits the US. They are not going to give us a post-scarcity society.