Re: You've only just realised this?
"Well, bollocks to that, IMO. And the answer isn't neo-Luddism, but the development of a new economic system. Capitalism replaced barter due to the needs of its time, and I feel sure that in due course we will arrive at some system to replace capitalism that embraces the existence of both humans and pervasive automation and AI. Trying to either prevent the future (Luddism) or hold onto the past (clinging to capitalism when it;s clearly not fit for societies purpose under current circumstances) are both doomed to failure. So the sooner people start thinking about what a post-capitalist economic system might look like and how it might operate the better The longer we leave it, the messier the change from the system we have now to whatever will replace it is likely to be. IMHO, of course."
But there IS no better system. Capitalism at least draws on natural human instincts to make it work. Any other system would have to compete with that, and the problem with AI is that it butts directly up against a human instinct: that of getting the leg up on your neighbor so that it's your genes comprising the next generation, not his.
IOW, the natural result of an AI takeover will inevitably be a lot fewer humans: not because the AIs kill them but because a lot of us will be rendered expendable, and the law of the jungle still applies in civilization; in fact, it applies more when civilization is strained.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
