Jumpin said:
Agreed. We have the ability to reshape the economy to adapt to higher productivity. It’s why work hours are less than half of what they used to be a century ago. Plus we have vacation days, children are free from labour except to teach discipline and skills, we have retirement, and most recently time off while we raise our infants. All this because of just the very recent productivity increases (relatively speaking). Complaining about less work to do is the wrong way to think about it. Having more time off allows us the option to enjoy life more thoroughly, and be productive in other ways: artisanal and creative works… we can anlso use our human ability to innovate and invent. |
The Billionaire class doesn't want a population with time to learn and think for themselves. They want people either gone or continue to live paycheck to paycheck, too busy to keep a roof over their head to protest or demand reform.
Sadly AI is already used to monitor everyone, everywhere, on everything. It's been developed in Gaza and the West Bank and is now being deployed in the US.
https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/machine-surveillance-is-being-super-charged-by-large-ai-models
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-ai-can-enable-public-surveillance/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/08/anti-defamation-league-surveillance
We can build a post scarcity world, but all signs point to building George Orwell's 1984.
ICE is not to get rid of illegal Immigrants, it's to keep the US in control
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ice-ai-cameras-surveillance-flock-safety-b2903365.html
Inside the AI police tech firm whose data is being fed to ICE
Meanwhile
Canada prepping response to hypothetical US military invasion for first time in a century, report says
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/canada-trump-us-military-invasion-b2904279.html
This AI gold rush is leading us right towards WW3. Trump is desperately seeking resources to keep the AI bubble and the US afloat. But it will have to burst to be able to make real changes.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/23/artificial-intelligence-ai-bubble-bursts-humans-take-back-control
The real bubble is not stock valuations but the inflated ego of an industry that thinks it is just one more datacentre away from computational divinity. When the correction comes, when the US’s Icarus economy hits the cold sea, there will be a chance for other voices to be heard on the subject of risk and regulation. It may not come in 2026, but the moment is nearing when the starkness of the choice on offer and the need to confront it becomes unavoidable. Should we build a world where AI is put to the service of humanity, or will it be the other way round?
For now the higher productivity AI can provide is not growing more food, not building more houses, not cleaning up the environment, not building fusion power plants, not building water desalination plants. More efficient desk jobs are not fixing the real problems.
