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What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

economist.com

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Re: What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

#31

Post by aetherson »

pontus wrote: post #25

I think two possible effects of AI are often conflated. On the one hand you can imagine that work gets supercharged, allowing companies to produce 10x the number of widgets at 1/10th the cost. The economy would grow rapidly, wealth inequality would presumably be exacerbated, jobs would be automated, we might need some version of universal basic income, and so on. People debate whether or not this kind of transition i…

If stuff is 1/10th as expensive as it is now, you can also work 1/10th as hard for 1x as much stuff as you have now, instead of 1x as hard as you work now for 10x the stuff.

Re: What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

#32

Post by andrewstuart »

Japan is the economy to idealize.

Almost no growth.

Yet people are mostly happy.

Government makes mostly wise decisions.

There’s not too much poverty.

They have not devalued and destroyed their own culture.

So yeah, growth maybe isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The price is too high. It benefits mainly politicians, corporations and the rich.

Re: What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

#33

Post by jrflowers »

crazygringo wrote: post #16
dcreater wrote: post #12

I am yet to see any strong micro econ or macro econ mechanistic explanation detailing how AI is going to create more wealth.

Technological advancements create wealth by increasing efficiency. Not really sure what deeper explanation you're looking for? It's no different from the cotton gin or steam engine or railroads. Obviously, if you don't think AI results in greater efficiency then there wouldn't be more wealth. But that's a tech question, not an econ question. The economic side of things couldn't be simpler.

> by increasing efficiency

Efficiency of what exactly? And how do they do that? All of the NFT-turned-AI bros insist that the answers to those questions are “everything” and “by being awesome”, which sounds more like the thinking of someone that’s convinced they’re on the precipice of inventing magic or figuring out how to directly petition god

Re: What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

#34

Post by karim79 »

Tyrubias wrote: post #5

I think a more important question is not whether AI will make economic growth explode but rather who that economic growth will benefit and in general how those benefits will be distributed.

I suppose, if a huge proportion of workers get replaced by AI software, leading to mass unemployment, there will be impetus for governments to step in and force corporations to contribute to some sort of UBI or social wealth fund.

If AI grabs everything and few consumers are left then it is zero-sum.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this might play out. Pessimistically, it seems very bubblish.

Re: What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

#35

Post by moomoo11 »

vouaobrasil wrote: post #8

I'd rather just have a world where people move a little slower, care less about efficiency, appreciate the smaller things in life, and stop forcing endless upgrades of every kind on everyone with new phones, new apps, soulless art, and new ways of doing things. But that's just me.

And then what? What’s there to do? By that logic we would all be playing pixelated Doom, carrying Walkman around, and smoking inside restaurants.

Re: What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

#36

Post by [deleted] »

moomoo11 wrote: post #35
vouaobrasil wrote: post #8

I'd rather just have a world where people move a little slower, care less about efficiency, appreciate the smaller things in life, and stop forcing endless upgrades of every kind on everyone with new phones, new apps, soulless art, and new ways of doing things. But that's just me.

And then what? What’s there to do? By that logic we would all be playing pixelated Doom, carrying Walkman around, and smoking inside restaurants.

[deleted]

Re: What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

#37

Post by sampton »

vouaobrasil wrote: post #8

I'd rather just have a world where people move a little slower, care less about efficiency, appreciate the smaller things in life, and stop forcing endless upgrades of every kind on everyone with new phones, new apps, soulless art, and new ways of doing things. But that's just me.

People say that until they are asked to pay more and earn less.

Re: What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

#38

Post by xerlait »

andrewstuart wrote: post #32

Japan is the economy to idealize. Almost no growth. Yet people are mostly happy. Government makes mostly wise decisions. There’s not too much poverty. They have not devalued and destroyed their own culture. So yeah, growth maybe isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The price is too high. It benefits mainly politicians, corporations and the rich.

Japan has the highest suicide rate of any OECD country.

Re: What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

#39

Post by whatshisface »

jrflowers wrote: post #33
crazygringo wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technological advancements create wealth by increasing efficiency. Not really sure what deeper explanation you're looking for? It's no different from the cotton gin or steam engine or railroads. Obviously, if you don't think AI results in greater efficiency then there wouldn't be more wealth. But that's a tech question, not an econ question. The economic side of things couldn't be simpler.

> by increasing efficiency Efficiency of what exactly? And how do they do that? All of the NFT-turned-AI bros insist that the answers to those questions are “everything” and “by being awesome”, which sounds more like the thinking of someone that’s convinced they’re on the precipice of inventing magic or figuring out how to directly petition god

Efficiency in terms of dollars per app or page of filler content.

Re: What if AI made the world’s economic growth explode?

#40

Post by solumunus »

Teever wrote: post #29
vouaobrasil wrote: post #8

I'd rather just have a world where people move a little slower, care less about efficiency, appreciate the smaller things in life, and stop forcing endless upgrades of every kind on everyone with new phones, new apps, soulless art, and new ways of doing things. But that's just me.

Maybe the issue with society is that we don't care about efficiency? We throw away 1/3 of the food that we make. We're overweight and waste energy from carrying that excess weight. We're less physically active as a result so we require motorized transport that is predominantly single passenger cars so we build all our infrastructure around cars which in turn causes us to be even more inactive and unhealthy. This also…

You think people own cars because they’re unfit? Would it be more efficient for them to ditch their car and cycle 4 hours per day to and from work?
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