Reminder that it's still not too late to change the direction of progress. We still have time to demand that our politicians put the breaks on AI data centres and end this insanity.
When AI exceeds humans at all tasks humans become economically useless.
People who are economically useless are also politically powerless, because resources are power.
Democracy works because the people (labourers) collectivised hold a monopoly on the production and ownership of resources.
If the state does something you don't like you can strike or refuse to offer your labour to a corrupt system. A state must therefore seek your compliance. Democracies do this by given people want they want. Authoritarian regimes might seek compliance in other ways.
But what is certain is that in a post-AGI world our leaders can be corrupt as they like because people can't do anything.
And this is obvious when you think about it... What power does a child or a disable person hold over you? People who have no ability to create or amass resources depend on their beneficiaries for everything including basics like food and shelter. If you as a parent do not give your child resources, they die. But your child does not hold this power over you. In fact they hold no power over you because they cannot withhold any resources from you.
In a post-AGI world the state would not depend on labourers for resources, jobless labourers would instead depend on the state. If the state does not provide for you like you provide for your children, you and your family will die.
In a good outcome where humans can control the AGI, you and your family will become subjects to the whims of state. You and your children will suffer as the political corruption inevitably arises.
In a bad outcome the AGI will do to cities what humans did to forests. And AGI will treat humans like humans treat animals. Perhaps we don't seek the destruction of the natural environment and the habitats of animals, but woodland and buffalo are sure inconvenient when building a super highway.
We can all agree there will be no jobs for our children. Even if you're an "AI optimist" we probably still agree that our kids will have no purpose. This alone should be bad enough, but if I'm right then there will be no future for them at all.
I will not apologise for my concern about AGI and our clear progress towards that end. It is not my fault if others cannot see the path I seem to see so clearly. I cannot simply be quiet about this because there's too much at stake. If you agree with me at all I urge you to not be either. Our children can have a great future if we allow them to have it. We don't have long, but we do still have time left.
