this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
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Futurology
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Bridgewater is not just the US's biggest hedge fund, it's the world's. As such, its research is indicative of mainstream economic thinking. That makes reading through their thoughts on AI & robots replacing human workers scary. Our governments and societies are guided by economist's planning. If this level of cluelessness is mainstream economic thinking, we're in big trouble.
The TLDR is that replacing all human workers will be great for investors and profits, and lead to economic boom times, as things getting cheaper will increase demand. No Nobel Prize in Economics for spotting the flaw with this line of thought. If no one has jobs, how do they buy stuff?
Jeremy Rifkin's book 'Zero Marginal Cost Society' is a far more economically literate take on the effects of AI & robotics reducing the cost of production to near zero.
Humans don't provide value by being a sink for economic activity. The fact that humans have certain needs and wants currently directs the economy, but if productivity can be decoupled from satisfying those needs and wants then there's no remaining role for humans as consumers who don't produce.
Businesses specialized in satisfying human needs and wants won't do very well, but they won't be the whole economy and eventually they won't be a significant part of the economy at all. Robots making robots that make robots is a steady state...