this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
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Futurology
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I sympathize, most of my work falls under the category of 'creative' too. But this conversation about AI & robotics needs to quickly move to UBI, or universal access to basic needs like health and housing. The day is coming when AI & robots can do all work, but for pennies on the hour & a free market economy isn't viable any more. This approach doesn't acknowledge that; it still assumes a free market economy can work in the future.
Well the world isn't giving up capitalism until it collapses, so the conversation still makes sense to be stuck around not letting the robots do all the fun stuff while we're stuck doing pointless busy work to prove we should continue to exist.
That is one way of looking at this. An alternative view is to say - "The day is coming when AI & robots can do all work, but for pennies on the hour" - will probably arrive by the 2030s. Every day we waste on pointless conversations that are destined to go nowhere, is a day we waste planning for the future. Worse than that, the chaos and despondency the AI/jobs threat creates, adds to the general conditions that are making the rise of fascism and the far right more prevalent.
You're assuming the people that own the machines have any interest in keeping us alive to reap the benefits of a mostly automated workforce
I never take ideas like that seriously. Even in sci-fi, the concept seems wildly fanciful.
Have you ever heard the term Superfund site or heard of the company Exxon?
Companies can, will, and have killed people for far less at the behest of the rich and powerful. If they get a scenario where they think they no longer need us, they'll make it happen.
The only hope I see here is that somebody needs to buy the shit