Futurists on AI automation
I just read a brilliant article on finding meaning in a high-tech world. What do humans do when AI automates routine cognitive tasks?
Image from Guardian Article by Yuval Noah Harari on meaning-making in an automated world.
Nowadays computers are capable of solving most complicated (not complex :) problems.
If we ignore the equally brilliant theory presented by Nick Bostrom, about 10,000 zen buddhists, and my favorite scientist Rick Sanchez) that we ALREADY live in a VR simulation. We STIILL need to plan for it because we WILL.
Automation of routine cognitive tasks
In the May 2017 Guardian article, Yuval Noah Harari the author of Sapiens argues that this means humans are seeking other ways to find meaning — in gaming, in VR simulation, and in AR.
As a futurist, I'm concerned because our current automation process is unequal. When these sectors are automated, it concentrates wealth in the hands of the few cognitive elites and increases competitiveness in the middle-class jobs that remain.
Automation, the wealth tax, and universal basic income
If we continue on this technological path we are going to automate traditional labor. We need to change our economics to account for the redistribution of labor. For most people, this means either UBI or a wealth tax.
UBI: We will need a universal basic income (UBI) because everyone who works as a checkout clerk is not going to have the cognitive flexibility to compete in the increasingly elite world of AI design. (Perhaps they can’t afford the free internships...
Wealth tax: It’s not only broke-ass millennials and brilliant economists that advocate a wealth tax. Billionaires like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Warren Buffet have been calling for a wealth tax for years. and It's not reducing inequalities for everyone, and it's not keeping people who can't compete off the street.
But assuming we solve the economic problem (I'm an incurable optimist with a UBI app so I think we will.) We still need to solve the meaning problem.
Automation and the future of meaning
At Todreamalife we think about this problem of meaning a lot and its why we’ve hired so many talented humanists and artists.
I don't think humans will turn to VR for meaning. I think the hipster movement proves we will actually see increased meaning and value in the search for quality. I believe we will spend more time and equal value in the other side of our binocular brains, the arts, craftsmanship, consciousness, and human interaction. And that's something you don't need to be a machine-learning engineer to do.
#todreamalife #economics #VR #AR #AI #ML #machine-learning #hipster #complexitytheory #arts #craftsmanship #consciousness. #binocularbrains
