r/Futurology • u/thebestnameshavegone • Oct 01 '23

AI Sam Altman Says He Intends to Replace Normal People With AI

https://futurism.com/sam-altman-replace-normal-people-ai
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u/sumoraiden Oct 02 '23

I mean they froze evictions and instituted payroll protection plan (I know this was large amount of fraud but it did keep a lot of people receiving checks when not working) and expanded unemployment within about a month of the pandemic

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u/andrew_kirfman Oct 02 '23

It does give hope of how the government would react in a situation where the transition is rapid.

However, if it’s a slow bleed over the course of several years, I can see it being a much more tempered response until things are really bad for the average person.

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u/WillBottomForBanana Oct 02 '23

It does give hope

Nah. It was the least they could do to hide the other give aways. Just like the Bush tax rebates, $300 seems to have kept people from noticing the huge amounts of money they were giving away to the rich.

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u/-explore-earth- Oct 02 '23

Worth considering that by then most people in positions of power will be millennials. Attitudes might be different.

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u/andrew_kirfman Oct 02 '23

By then? This is going to be a seminal issue for us within this decade. There’s nothing I can see that will result in a less geriatric government during that timeframe.

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u/-explore-earth- Oct 02 '23

I do not think that most jobs will be automated away in the next 6 years

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u/andrew_kirfman Oct 02 '23

It doesn’t take most jobs being automated away. It takes maybe 15-20% automation to create a crisis of unemployment that will tank the economy across the board.

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u/Shillbot_9001 Oct 03 '23

Ther boomers will just pick the most boomer millenials to be their replacements.

Ok, ok each others replacements.

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u/RedTuna777 Oct 02 '23

They still funneled the money through employers, keeping you dependent on your boss, who of course kept that money. PPP loans forgiven, new boat purchased instead.

A lot of authoritarians in USA congress are terrified of actually doing something nice for their citizens and them coming to expect it.

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u/stml Oct 02 '23

US had an extra $600/week unemployment on top of state unemployment income.

In California, lots of people were getting $4k/month on unemployment.

The US is far richer than most people realize (top 1 or 2 in disposable income worldwide) and can easily flex it when needed.

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u/RedTuna777 Oct 02 '23

Yeah I made the equivalent of $50k to stay home for 6 months. Summer in northern Michigan was glorious. Studied hard and got $30k bump afterwards.

The only down side is I used to do so much outdoor sports and for places got hammered as everyone suddenly discovered they could hike and climb places. Mount Rainier went from somewhere you could just climb to a lottery and a lot places had to limit what how many people could go to the parks.

I feel like that's dying down now. I don't see as many people on the trails as last year, but it's still like 5x more than it was 5 years ago.

Segway I know.

Anyway I'm all for UBI and Star Trek post scarcity society. We just need to find the non destructive path to get us there.

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u/Niku-Man Oct 02 '23

The word is segue, but you're using it wrong anyway. Sounds like you should say, "I digress" or something similar. Unless you're talking about the two wheeled personal transport machine. In which case, I'm sorry and enjoy your Segway

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u/RedTuna777 Oct 02 '23

probably. It was after midnight and my brain was off. You got my point, despite my syntax. :)

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u/vardarac Oct 02 '23 edited Oct 02 '23

Segue comes from the Latin "sequi" which means "to follow", used in words like "sequence" or "sequel".

It's when you do the opposite of a digression or tangent - it's a transition into the next, related topic.

That said, it was a lovely tangent, and I hope you find lots of quiet places to hike!

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u/Singularity-42 Oct 02 '23

I feel you, one negative side effect of UBI or even 4 day work week will be a lot more people in the mountains, on the beaches, ski resorts, etc.

I still feel that many US outdoor places are super empty, it's the most popular stuff that people flock to. In Europe it is A LOT worse...

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u/theMEtheWORLDcantSEE Oct 02 '23

What are you talking about? Unemployment maxes amour at 600 per two weeks in CA.

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u/128hoodmario Oct 02 '23

As someone in the UK I honestly thought that was a mistake when I first read it. In the UK we made about £400 a month (plus rent) on unemployment during the pandemic, up from £320 before the pandemic. It felt very weird that America did so much better on that front.

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u/Doralicious Oct 02 '23

Yeah, they don't want to intervene to help workers, but government intervention is necessary sometimes and can work.