Somewhat similar to the dark ages with its aristocrats ruling over us.
Creating AGI needs powerful computers, which are costly. Independence from humans, like workers in chip factories, requires bootstrapping[1]. This leads to a scenario where a subset of humans serves their bosses, and bosses serve shareholders until AGI takes over. Those with money hold power, and if we aren't good “slaves” robots might take over. There's a chance of using prison labor, especially with the ease of getting jailed in the US for minor offenses. A cynic might say: why not change laws to make it easier to jail people? Might solve homelessness, and we get free labor that way.
Rising homelessness is likely. The only option for us “plebs” is to learn basic survival skills like making fire, catching fish, and purifying water and possibly fight each other so that those who rule over us be at ease:
“When two people quarrel, a third rejoices.”
We might have a “democracy” on paper, but it is clear to me that the people can influence politics with great leverage, if they have enough wealth at their disposal:
“Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.”[2]
Keep in mind though, we cannot predict the future, it might be worse, it might be better, it might be something we cannot even imagine (see Nassim Taleb).
Further, I seem to have pessimistic tendencies (biases), so keep that in mind too.
So, I hope that my pessimism is just futile and does not hold any water (not even a drop).
Reference:
1. “In general, bootstrapping usually refers to a self-starting process that is supposed to continue or grow without external input.”
[Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrapping)
Creating AGI needs powerful computers, which are costly. Independence from humans, like workers in chip factories, requires bootstrapping[1]. This leads to a scenario where a subset of humans serves their bosses, and bosses serve shareholders until AGI takes over. Those with money hold power, and if we aren't good “slaves” robots might take over. There's a chance of using prison labor, especially with the ease of getting jailed in the US for minor offenses. A cynic might say: why not change laws to make it easier to jail people? Might solve homelessness, and we get free labor that way. Rising homelessness is likely. The only option for us “plebs” is to learn basic survival skills like making fire, catching fish, and purifying water and possibly fight each other so that those who rule over us be at ease:
“When two people quarrel, a third rejoices.”
We might have a “democracy” on paper, but it is clear to me that the people can influence politics with great leverage, if they have enough wealth at their disposal:
“Despite the seemingly strong empirical support in previous studies for theories of majoritarian democracy, our analyses suggest that majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts. Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance, such as regular elections, freedom of speech and association, and a widespread (if still contested) franchise. But we believe that if policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, then America’s claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.”[2]
Keep in mind though, we cannot predict the future, it might be worse, it might be better, it might be something we cannot even imagine (see Nassim Taleb). Further, I seem to have pessimistic tendencies (biases), so keep that in mind too. So, I hope that my pessimism is just futile and does not hold any water (not even a drop).
Reference:
1. “In general, bootstrapping usually refers to a self-starting process that is supposed to continue or grow without external input.” [Source](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootstrapping)
2. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-poli...