I generally agree with what you're saying, but...

> at the mercy of the new AI hegemony

Unless their robot army is fully armed and ready when things get bad enough they'll find out we aren't at their mercy, they are at ours.

England 1381. France 1789. Haiti 1791. Russia 1917. China 1949. World 203X...?

Would be preferable to avoid letting things get to that point by having those in power be smart enough to release the pressure valves as was done in the US around the time of the New Deal, but if they fumble this we shouldn't view being at the mercy of the elites as a foregone conclusion.

Once the average person's base level comfort is gone and they aren't sure where their next 3 meals are coming from anything can happen.

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antonvs an hour ago | parent [-]

> those in power be smart enough to release the pressure valves as was done in the US around the time of the New Deal

Worth noting that it wasn't "those in power" who decided of their own accord that they needed to improve the situation. It was organized labor, unemployed workers, protests, farmers, and electoral politics.

"Those in power" almost never seem to make such changes of their own accord. They have to be forced. The only question is how much force is necessary.

	▲	georgemcbay 13 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> Worth noting that it wasn't "those in power" who decided of their own accord that they needed to improve the situation. It was organized labor, unemployed workers, protests, farmers, and electoral politics. True, the populace drove the change and would have seen things changed by whatever means necessary. My point (about "those in power") was that at least FDR was smart enough to know this and realize the least disruptive way forward was to convince the business interests to suck it up and save the capitalism that benefited (and would still benefit) them by introducing a bit of socialism to avoid complete chaos. There appears to be zero appetite for that sort of compromise with our current administration or our current business leaders who are still clinging to failed neoliberal trickle-down ideology, though you can see the people clearly shifting fast in recent elections. I'd like to hope that this change in attitude continues to bubble up to the political levels required in time to avoid the more extreme outcomes, but I guess we'll see...