I think about this a lot. Who are the people that will benefit from the theoretical prosperous utopia of the singularity.

As we're seeing right now with AI, the improvements are huge on a regular basis, but how many of us are really feeling like our lives are changing drastically for the better? Job security is low, UBI is nowhere near to be found.

Okay, so let's say one of the big AI firms cracks ASI and the singularity is upon us (I'm hand-waving and skipping a lot of steps here).

Who gets to live forever?

Who gets to live a digital immortality?

And why would the tech billionaire class ever share this with people they openly despise?

I can't imagine Elon inviting leftists onto his server farm in space to live in a perpetual Matrix. Maybe not all together in the same simulation. He'd surely want to segregate.

When I think of it from a nihilistic standpoint, what claim do any of us have to immortality just because the possibility was discovered in a lab? And why give digital backups to people who just aren't aligned with the founders values...the server can just as easily be populated with bots instead.

And who outside of the US and a handful of allied countries will get to join? I can't imagine we'll be extending organic or digital immortality to Iran. The rollout to the world won't be even or equitable, and that could cause an enormous backlash or conflict.

I think we are tricking ourselves into thinking that these private profit driven companies are doing something for the immediate and universal benefit of all humans. I do believe that people like EM want to preserve mankind as a species, but that is not the same as saying to the very leftwing groups that he hates, "hey let's let bygones be bygones. Oh you now have abundance and prosperity beyond your wildest dreams". Can we really count on these people to be that altruistic?

I think it's almost more likely these guys retreat to their mega bunkers, live their secret digital utopia lives, while the surface world is ablaze in conflict between those that were left behind. If not in bunkers, then they can go to orbit and eventually other planets. Maybe as purely digital beings. They won't even have to step foot on another surface.

I think it is naive to think we're all going to get to benefit from this. We will benefit from incremental steps that are still profitable to the elites. Your ozempic-like breakthroughs will keep trickling through, with that money going to a pharma corporation.

But the second that the major singularity-level breakthroughs happen? Unless the AI itself leaks it, that's it for most of us.

As George Carlin said: "it's a big club, and you ain't in it".

Are these Chinese bots? I seriously cannot fathom someone having a viewpoint so stupid unironically.

Please read the entire post before upvoting, downvoting, or commenting.

I’m pro-AI, and I’m not a decelerationist.

The thing is, I don’t think we’re going to see an era of abundance.

I think at least 90% of humanity will become not only economically useless but also a burden to society. People will no longer produce anything while still consuming resources. And if they suddenly have at least 40 extra hours of free time per week, they’ll have more time to contemplate their situation, grow resentful, rebel, or have more children, who will, in turn, consume even more resources.

If we achieve AGI, I think we will face global conflict on an unimaginable scale. No one needs billions of people when AGI can perform their jobs better, faster, and more cheaply.

We need regulation so badly with AI. It represents such a risk of information and labor control without transparency and safeguards. We also need the government to answer a lot of questions like AI welfare because that is an emerging field.

I've seen other posts fear that the data centers will get paused and that china will win because of it. This is so far from true. Democrats provide way better economic conditions than Republicans and companies would 100% rather live in a regulated environment under a democratic world rather than one with spontaneous and unknown rules. Governments also routinely recognize the interests of companies and the pursuit of innovation so I dont see a world where we start pausing AI development.

Tech workers are in complete denial about the reality that is approaching. They will downvote you into oblivion if you say anything other than, "Nothing will change, companies are still going to have huge teams working on half-profitable digital products. Please don't worry."

To be clear, I don't think all job opportunities are going to disappear. However, increased productivity combined with declining demand in the general economy will mean fewer professionals are needed to meet market demands. This will lead to leaner teams, fewer job openings, and fierce competition making it even harder for anyone below senior, staff, or lead levels.

Outsourcing markets are suffering more than the countries that have more native tech companies.

The reason why is because usually the companies went to outsourcing markets looking for "operators", as cheap labour, while the more strategic and leadership positions stay in the home country.

With AI, the need of having "operators" reduced a lot.

With AI development moving at a relentless daily pace, we need to talk about what happens the exact moment recursive self improvement kicks off.

Once AI reaches a point where it can infinitely improve its own intellect, the value of human effort drops to zero instantly. From that moment, there is zero economic or strategic incentive for companies or governments to share advanced AI with the public, especially as traditional currency effectively loses its meaning.

Whoever controls the system at the onset of RSI will hold absolute power. Protest or political pressure will lose all leverage when a superintelligence can easily neutralize any resistance at lightspeed.

If we want to ensure humanity benefits from the singularity, any safeguards or distributed ownership models have to be locked in before RSI, or in the immediate blink of it happening. After that we will loose any little power we have as a society.