Hmm, that's troubling but predictable.

The idea that AI will bring an age of abundance may be true, but not in the short term. Companies are letting people go, and AI will be blamed for that, whether true or not. For decades the public perception that most Tech Bros have prioritized profits over the wellbeing of the little guy is well established, in my view, in some cases well deserved with no accountability.

It's looking like AI will generate a modern version of the early 1800s Luddite Rebellion where British textile workers destroyed machines that displaced jobs, prioritizing factory owners' profits over workers. They targeted technology and industrialists.

Tech Bros can avoid this by modifying their priorities, prioritize employee rights and lobbying governments to begin implementing some sort of Universal Basic Income of some sort and or provide the means by which people can survive, or the government may start marketing Soylent Green to consumers :(

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pesus 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'd say an important distinction is AI is currently threatening to displace a significantly larger number of jobs across multiple sectors. Whether it can/will actually happen is yet to be seen, but the potential amount of scorned people with nothing to lose is far greater this time.

	▲	SilentM68 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I agree. It's hard to know, but if it were me that's creating this type of economy, an uncertain economy which may/may not bring about all these changes, I'd modify the approach to account for any potential human displacement, just in case it does come about. The outlook from my view, though limited, is so pessimistic that I just keep thinking about a scenario similar to, though not AI-related, Soylent Green or Great Ravine from The Dark Forest, Volume 2 of Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy (aka The Three-Body Problem series). I keep hoping I come across a 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Coupe aka "V8 Interceptor" or "Pursuit Special," when all hell breaks loose :\|

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whimblepop 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> It's looking like AI will generate a modern version of the early 1800s Luddite Rebellion where British textile workers destroyed machines that displaced jobs, prioritizing factory owners' profits over workers. They targeted technology and industrialists.

It's worth remembering that the way that ended was extremely bloody, particularly for the Luddites themselves. There were a handful of extreme participants, there was a murder, and there was a hell of a lot of violence directed at anyone perceived as a Luddite— even though most actual Luddites themselves mostly avoided violence against other humans.

It would be good if we can somehow avoid such outcomes this time.

	▲	SilentM68 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Greed drives most of the current crop of Tech Bros. I once had the chance to be a Bro, far richer than any of the current ones, thanks to the still secretive and anonymous "original-sn-adjacent cryptographic collective". Things, however, did not work out in my favor thanks to other nefarious third-party actors. So, I know where from I speak. Any outcome is in the hands of the Tech Bros but by the looks of it, greed drives their every action, so things are not looking good! :(

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MiguelX413 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I'm a neo-luddite