Back in the Golden Age of Science Fiction we dreamed of a time when robots would do all the drudgery jobs. Humanity would be free to pursue their creative passions. That was the dream at any rate.
We got just the opposite thanks to AI. Now computers are doing the creative stuff and we still have to clock in at the Midget Widget Factory. The next thing they’ll be doing is taking our vacations for us.
It’s estimated that up to 80% of all jobs will be lost to AI. That’s not a problem -unless you need a job to earn money to live on. While there’s some talk about a guaranteed income, it doesn’t look like our masters want that. Then again maybe they do. We’d get just enough to survive and keep consuming but not enough to actually get ahead -perfect control.
So how much can society take before it breaks?
Have you noticed how large and how many homeless encampments we have these days? Don’t expect them to get fewer and smaller. Also, never loose track of the fact that most of us are just a few paychecks away from tent living ourselves. They are people not all that different from you and me.
I used to joke that any machine smart enough to do my job would be too smart to do it. That might not be a joke in the future.
-Sixbears
Back in the Golden Age of Science Fiction the robots were also programmed to obey the Three Laws of Robotics as Isaac Assimov defined them... nowadays with AI and robotics advancing at a very fast pace (See e.g. Boston Dynamics creations) it is extremely disturbing to realise that this combination of AI+Robots can and probably will be used against the unruly, undisciplined and protesting humans in the not so distant future...
ReplyDeleteWe should have known that instead of the three laws we'd get Bolos. The real money is in war machines.
DeleteSkynet here we come...
ReplyDeleteIt's not like we weren't warned.
DeleteIn Sci-Fi at least the society had morals, and so did the Robots with the 3 laws of robotics.
ReplyDeleteMoral hazards exceed the limits of AI today. Man is past master at ignoring or harming it's homeless and poor folks.
Who said, "We have met the enemy and it is US"?
It's pretty weird to me that people are working so hard on building our replacements.
DeleteWhy? When they are working so hard on bussing illegal errr undocumented new citizens to replace us?
DeleteI suspect that the new Americans they bus in will be just as troublesome as the old.
Maybe that's why they want obedient robots instead?
Science fiction often predicts future technology more or less correctly. Very rarely is it as good at predicting the the social consequences of that technology becoming widespread.
ReplyDeleteIf AI destroys 80% of jobs, then either we'll get guaranteed income (because any politician who doesn't support it will be voted out in a landslide), or we'll get a revolution.
Good point. Few writers do well with the social stuff. The future is full of surprises.
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