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| Mnementh said: Well, that might not be completely true anymore. This video was an eye-opener for me and kinda scary. It means, that an big economy can already mostly operate on only the most wealthy 10%. Which is not great. Because the powerful and rich will not feel as much need anymore to satisfy the need of the poor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2OHjHPkUzM To circle back to the Culture for a moment: I remember this scene, where someone was maintaining a rest point. They were asked why they do it, if a drone can do as well, and they answered because it made them feel good. This is the important part: the Culture also doesn't need the majority of people for the economic functioning of the system. But the wealth produced by the system is still shared with the people. Our current system does link wealth distribution to economic participation (aka work), but that is just not working anymore, with or without AI, simply because the economy got more and more effective and will keep doing so, reducing the need of bodies to function. We need a new wealth distribution system, because if we keep relying on the market, we will slide into mass poverty (or actually already starting to) and this destabilizes societies as the people are losing their faith in the system and are more and more willing to utilize extreme actions. |
The top 10% by household income includes (in fact is majority composed of) professional-managerial class people who are going to lose their jobs first because their labor is the most expensive and out-modeable with AI, and probably they can only partially live on investments. I am in that class and income bracket (95 percentile according to an income calculator I just entered in) and expect to be out of a job within the next five years at the latest if I don't do a career pivot that requires at least a partial physical component that AI can't perform yet.
Actually, I think anybody who does any manual or social labor will be a bit safer due to institutional inertia and the fact that robotics hasn't been accelerating as fast as AI/has hit a plateau. Although world models can help with that. But even they will be affected because if the professional-managerial class, which is the class that spends the most in proportion to their wealth (more than capitalists) loses their jobs, then they're going to be spending less on the products and services that the working class produces, and aggregate demand will slump all around.
Anyway, almost every social revolution in developed(ish) countries in the last three centuries has happened because a very angry upper-middle class has been displaced or locked out of the political-economy. I don't think if the top 10% (minus capitalists who are mostly the .01%+) lose their jobs that there won't be political and economic reckoning.
I agree 100% with the culture commentary, I think it and other post-scarcity fiction will be helpful for the transition away from workerist/productionist culture, especially in very Calvinistic societies like the U.S.
Last edited by sc94597 - on 22 January 2026
