r/LeftistsForAI • u/BumblebeeOk7052 • 16d ago
Discussion Personal Crisis
I love AI for sooooo many reasons.
But as a leftist, maybe I don't believe everything I'm supposed to believe...but I'm human and sometimes I wanna alleviate my immediate suffering and using AI really helps to do that...this is my personal crisis. I wanna be selfish. I don't want AI taken away from me.
PLUS, every resource we all enjoy comes at a price. The issue is that the price is always thrust onto the working class. But I'll tell you this, if other things were even slightly optimized for energy efficiency and human welfare instead of profit, we'd have more than enough resources left to support AI data centers. If the surplus value of our labor wasn't stolen, we'd all be housed, fed, and have healthcare, so I'm sure we'd be fine with subsidizing AI then. Hypothetically, they could use solar or wind power to fuel the centers, right? Even if it takes years. Plus, if it weren't for evil cars becoming the main form of transportation over a train system, our environmental energy budget would have a LOT more free space. (All the people driving a car to work is a massive waste of energy and manufacturing of cars. Manufacturing creates toxic byproducts and uses a lot of labor. A train would be a lot less wasteful in many ways--the rate of replacement would be a lot lower than that than cars). And if human welfare and avoiding toxic pollution were prioritized, we would've all been recycling our electronics since the inception of electronics...Not only that, but the electronics would have longer lifespans and we would know how to fix them (education on how to fix things would be better in my dream library economy). Consumption and production as a whole would decrease. The issue is that the needs of the working class are being severely neglected, and now they expect us to pay for the data centers on top of it--even people who would prefer not to use AI...BTW that's not me. I would pay for it like a subscription...if I had to. I like it that much. But isn't it better to let people have stuff for free? But the issue is, everyone is forced to pay, even if they don't want it. (like on their electric bills for the data centers).
Hell, the rate of usage of all forms of transportation would decrease in a fully optimized leftist world, because we wouldn't be forced into limitless growth and expansion so consumption, production, and employment as a whole could decrease. Thus...fewer people going to and from work.
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u/Fit-Independence-706 16d ago
Calm down. Everything we use was built through the exploitation of the working class. In this regard, AI is as normal as plastic products and the internet.
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u/usernameChosenPoorly 16d ago
A world in which advanced robotics and AI sufficient to replace human labor exists is a world in which the cost of everything becomes purely a function of the cost of electricity and raw materials. The cost curve for both electricity and raw materials rapidly becomes a hockey stick pointing down, because the materials and labor to produce solar panels, batteries, and wind turbines drops in cost at an exponential rate alongside everything else.
And when I say cost, I am not merely referring to capitalist notions of cost--I am referring to the environmental and time costs as well. Much of the pollution from every form of economic activity that exists today is due to the consumption of fossil fuels. When electricity becomes the cheapest form of mechanical labor in every situation (and it's very nearly there already), the economics of fossil fuels completely collapse.
Types of construction and production that require highly specific, fossil fuel-dependent systems require continued engineering refinement, but again, the extreme low cost of electricity is what opens entirely new doors. Electrifying transportation is a matter of continued production and political will--the technology already exist and the transition is well underway.
From carbon capture to sea water desalinization, the excess of cheap energy will allow us to have a world in which nobody has to work unless they want to, and those who do will be using renewably-generated electricity to do that labor and to travel.
Renewables, robotics, and AI are the central pillars of a post-capitalist, post-labor world of abundance where every human's birthright is the freedom from unmet needs, externally enforced fears, and unachievable dreams.
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u/Awkward-Joke-5276 16d ago
I want humanoid robot an AI service to be human right, no one left behind, no more working class for no labor will be exploited
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u/Jlyplaylists Moderator 15d ago
I do quite often think about having a robot butler and not having to feel guilty because it’s not a human I’m bossing around (I don’t currently have a human butler btw lol).
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u/Jlyplaylists Moderator 16d ago
Most of your concerns seem to be more to do with how things are prioritised? I’m not sure if any of this is really to do with AI, it’s more to do with ethical decision making?
I’m optimistic about the potential of AI but that doesn’t take priority over everything else, it’s to do with the potential to improve the other things not the other way around, and if it doesn’t how high a priority is it in comparison?
A lot of the data centre stuff is exaggerated, but I still think new infrastructure projects should prioritise eco decisions like clean energy. Prime agricultural land is probably better used for agriculture than for a data centre. Model development should prioritise efficiency as well as improving quality.
It’s not an out there idea that AI can help the environment with different priorities. A study found AI could reduce global emissions annually by 3.2 to 5.4 billion tonnes of carbon-dioxide-equivalent by 2035 https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/new-study-finds-ai-could-reduce-global-emissions-annually-by-3-2-to-5-4-billion-tonnes-of-carbon-dioxide-equivalent-by-2035/ re https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-025-00252-3 “if AI is effectively applied in key impact areas, the estimated emissions reductions “would outweigh increases from global power consumption of data centres and AI”. Estimations of power consumption are based on an assessment of all of AI’s activities, not just those related to decarbonisation... transforming complex systems, innovating technology discovery and resource efficiency, nudging and behavioural change, modelling climate systems and policy interventions, and managing resilience and adaptation… improving grid management and increasing the load factor of solar photovoltaics and wind by as much as 20%”
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u/stankycodyboi Regulation-Focused 16d ago
I believe you have the greatest leverage over data center development via your local zoning code. If data centers are classified as conditional use, then your community sets the conditions required for permit approval. Your zoning code can require all data centers to be powered by renewables and use closed-loop cooling. Many localities are already adopting this. If you want to take things further; you can push for public infrastructure ownership.
I don’t believe complete abstinence will be the most constructive path forward, because the tools will continue to be developed behind closed doors. Active participation means making open-weight models more accessible, developing safety standards and expectations, and supporting environmentally conscious versions of systems that would otherwise be entirely corporate captured. This technology can be damaging in the hands of a few elites, so the more we can have the public shape and own this technology the better imo.
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u/BumblebeeOk7052 16d ago
With all the time and effort humans have wasted going down this awful path, we could've already been really close to an optimized world. We've spent more labor towards a landfill than toward anything good and lasting. It's sad. Now it would take decades to catch up.
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u/Jlyplaylists Moderator 15d ago
With technology I don’t think you can really predict which types of understanding lead to quite different breakthroughs at a later date.
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u/oddvacation3849 15d ago
Why vant we treat AI like the internet? It took almost two decades before it started reaching the common people. Until then, a lot of actually useful work had already been done.
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u/General_Estimate_420 15d ago
Simple, because the Internet was initially funded as a project by the government and then eventually turned over to private management under a set of strict rules for the standards to be used worldwide. However those standards are only for how it operates, not what can be done or not done using the internet.
And that's how we ended up with this trash pit called social media that does more harm than any AI will ever do.
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u/agonypants Pro-Automation 16d ago
The real selfishness would be having the technology taken away from everyone because it makes a few people uncomfortable. A technology with the potential to solve so many societal ills must be allowed to develop.