> Personally I think all this is unpredictable and destabilizing.
I completely agree, but then again it seems to me that society also functions according to many norms that were established due to historical context; and could / should be challenged and replaced.
Our education system was based on needs of the industrial revolution. Ditto, the structure of our working week.
My bet: We will see our working / waking lives shift before our eyes, in a manner that's comparable to watching an avalanche in the far distance. And (similarly to the avalanche metaphor) we'll likely have little ability to effect any change.
Fundamental questions like 'why do we work', 'what do we need' and 'what do we want' will be necessarily brought to the fore.
I think that we'll see fundamental changes, but it will be based on cheaper consumer goods because all of the back end white collar labor that adds costs to them will be (for all intents and purposes) free.
But we will see the absolute destruction of the middle class. This will be the death blow. The work week will change, but only because even more people will work multiple part time jobs. We'll think about what we need, but only because we'll have cheap consumer goods, but no ability to prepare for the future.
I think it's bleak. Source: most of human history. We're not, as a species, naturally altruistic. We're competitive and selfish.
>Fundamental questions like 'why do we work', 'what do we need' and 'what do we want' will be necessarily brought to the fore.
All the low paid, physically laborious work is not affected by AI, so there will be plenty of work, especially with aging populations around the world.
The question is will it be worth doing (can the recipients of the work pay enough) without being able to provide the dream of being able to obtain a desk job for one’s self or their children.
Historically that's more a question about community. Its a very recent phenomenon to have cultures where parents and grandparents are expected to take care of themselves or live in a home/facility.
Living in an elderly home may be impossible, too[1], meaning at best you can stay at the hospital until you die (which doctors are eager to achieve), at least in Hungary.
There is a sad, depressing world out there. One of my parents work at an elderly home, and the shit that happens there is just wild. Zero responsibility and accountability. Deliberate killing of people out of pure inconvenience, etc.
I am in favor of a "social support network".
[1] Requires money, e.g. pension, which is increasingly less, and they keep increasing the age.
Oh yes, I've heard my fair share of horror stories from elderly homes. I would like to say I'm glad they exist for those who have no other option, but even in the most expensive places I've personally seen its just no way to live in my opinion.
I agree, and it is terrifying that I may be paralyzed due to my chronic illness and end up rotting away on a hospital bed with nurses and doctors perceiving me as an inconvenience.
> All the low paid, physically laborious work is not affected by AI, so there will be plenty of work, especially with aging populations around the world.
Low paid physically labourorious work has been increasingly automated since the wheel started helping potters.
The history of computers often ends up referencing Jacquard looms because it used punched cards.
LLMs have been demonstrated controlling various robots.
AI's coming for all jobs, it's just a question of which jobs cease first.
I completely agree, but then again it seems to me that society also functions according to many norms that were established due to historical context; and could / should be challenged and replaced.
Our education system was based on needs of the industrial revolution. Ditto, the structure of our working week.
My bet: We will see our working / waking lives shift before our eyes, in a manner that's comparable to watching an avalanche in the far distance. And (similarly to the avalanche metaphor) we'll likely have little ability to effect any change.
Fundamental questions like 'why do we work', 'what do we need' and 'what do we want' will be necessarily brought to the fore.