The downward spiral of humanity is irreversible. Society cannot improve from where we are today. This is the first installment on this theme…..
Without apologies, my view is based on observations of various American trends but argue the United States is generally in much better condition than the the rest of the planet where one third live in poverty, one third under the rule of totalitarianism, and the rest in ‘democracies’ headed towards one-party-rule Marxism or worse. It is intended as broad survey of sociological conditions (not political).
Advances in innovation and information technology continue to accelerate. Artificial intelligence and robotic automation are moving at breakneck speeds and will profoundly impact humanity. It is happening now, today, not in the future. As rapid as the last 70 years of automation has been, we have also seen massive perversions of the technology throughout society; private, corporate, and government. Technology is now the weapon of choice and the costs to defend against its evil impact are enormous. The rapid adoption of these new technologies will displace millions of workers from all walks of life, white and blue collar alike. At the same time those with corrupt intent will exploit those same technologies to increase crime, monitoring, enforcement, and ultimately control over the growing proletariat. In 5 years the concept of individual liberty will be a vague notion of former times known only to the eldest among us. Only a handful of technologists understand the massive extent of illegal monitoring and data collection taking place today. Most people are content to assume AI is about ‘marketing’ and that law enforcement is noble in its use of illegally collected data. There is no place to hide and the data collected can be used to support any claim any time, without cause.
Specifically on the topic of AI; programs such as chat.openai.com are collecting more data than it gives out; the AI is learning from us more than we learn from it and we are learning a LOT. Every human interaction with AI expands its knowledge of how humans think and before the end of 2024 AI will be able to pass the Turing Test. As sentience AI approaches, the true value of AI will become apparent to the ruling elite and people with corrupt intent. The result of this realization will be a lockdown on such technologies. The cost of accessing AI for the common person will skyrocket; but it will be widely available and the tool of choice for the ruling elite, law enforcement, and the corrupt. AI will be a weapon against the proletariat, not a tool for the advancement of humankind. Even George Orwell‘s 1984 dystopian future, as bleak as it was, did not anticipate the added impact of Artificial Intelligence. As AI grows, so will the proletariat.
Similar to AI, the advancement in robotics and automation are also increasing at record speeds. Robots will be walking among us sooner than people think. First as narrowly skilled replacements for blue collar workers but as AI is in increasingly integrated they will replace the endless sea of bureaucrats world wide. 100s of millions with no marketable skills will be displaced by the perfect machine version of themselves. Soulless robots will obediently execute their tasks upon us. As perfect soldiers, robots will will feed the profitable business of war with a fury. There will be no peace. Meanwhile, humans will be relegated to the ‘care and feeding’ of robots. Watch any video on ‘how it’s made’ and you will see manufacturers centered around mammoth mechanical machines literally being fed raw materials by humans. It’s our job to keep up with them not the other way around. Driverless trucking and robotic farming will eliminate work for millions of people. What transferable skills do they have? The proletariat population will continue to grow.
In short AI and robotics will eliminate 100s of millions of jobs; far too many for society to absorb. At the same time, the benefits of these technologies will be priced out of reach for the expanding proletariate. The ruling class will become more powerful.
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