4 ms·
Servants. Yes, robots eventually, but servants are the classical answer. The terrible truth is that palace economies are stable -- we see them in "resource-curs
by smallmancontrov 2mo ago
Servants. Yes, robots eventually, but servants are the classical answer. The terrible truth is that palace economies are stable -- we see them in "resource-cursed" countries around the world and through time. When a single easily-owned fountain of wealth dominates the economy, a small group of people consolidate ownership and everyone else polarizes around them, forming into concentric rings of gatekeepers and masses struggling to access the only thing that matters. It's terrible but it's stable, and if you're inside the palace it doesn't feel like much of a curse at all.
- bamboozled 2mo agoThe robots would have to be intelligent enough to be fully self sufficient, at which point they don’t care about people.
- tavavex 2mo ago'Care' is a human concept. Robots, even extremely advanced ones, will not necessarily come bundled with aspirations. Giving a robot the capacity to care and want change, if it's even possible, would be extremely dangerous. It's completely realistic to imagine a world where robots just do what they're told because it's what they're made to do, because they lack any incentive to do anything else.
- bigbadfeline 2mo ago> It's completely realistic to imagine a world where robots just do what they're told Yeah, although there are some wrinkles, doing anything else would be clinically insane.
- foobiekr 2mo agoYou’re thinking the servants exist primarily to execute tasks. Servants exist primarily to abuse.