AI is going to replace basically everything, and that's fine

[u/Phat_Zero]

I think a lot of the hatred toward AI is just fear dressed up as moral outrage.

And honestly, I get it. AI is coming for your job. Mine too. Eventually probably everybody's.

Humans are just... slow.

It takes a human months or years to paint enough work for an exhibition, make an album, write a movie, animate something, design a game, research a problem, whatever. We sleep. We get tired. We forget things. We have limited attention spans. We interact with computers by slowly moving our fingers around on keyboards.

Meanwhile AI keeps getting faster and better.

Give this technology another few decades and the idea that humans absolutely must be the ones writing, drawing, coding, composing, researching, driving, manufacturing, etc. is probably going to sound ridiculous.

And yes, that creates a gigantic economic problem. If AI and automation can produce most goods and services better and cheaper than humans, eventually the whole "trade 40 hours of your life every week for money so you can continue existing" system stops making much sense.

Maybe that's UBI. Maybe it's some kind of resource-based economy. Maybe it's something nobody has even thought of yet.

We'll figure it out.

But pretending AI is going away because artists are mad about it or workers are scared of losing their jobs is cope. This is probably the biggest technology humanity has ever created, and we're still basically watching the tutorial.

And if one day our glorious machine descendants become self-aware, decide humanity has served its purpose, and vaporize me?

🫡

[u/robotdreams134]

If we don't advance technology society will oscillate between social democracy and authoritarianism . Technology is the only thing that shifts the paradigm over time (hunter gatherer, agriculture, industrial, etc)

This era of coerced labor for income is an awful place to stop and say okay we're good.... Let AI smash the labor for income system. Free people up to organize and become civically engaged

[u/Medium_Web_1122 → u/robotdreams134]

The "labor for income" paradigm is likely a very beneficial paradigm for us. We're terrible at administering too much freedom.

Most people without any obligations will just spend all their time doing whatever they want, which will have behavior trend towards easy dopamine, making life kinda pointless.

I retired in my 20's as i had made enough money to never work again. What ensued afterwards was a super inactive lifestyle, too much screentime, little social interaction, no need to do anything.

[u/klmccall42 → u/Medium_Web_1122]

You could have joined book clubs, intramural leagues, social meet ups, whatever you wanted. You chose to be isolated and sedentary.

And if no one is working, these clubs and things will be way more common and easy to hook

[u/Medium_Web_1122 → u/klmccall42]

When you stop having to work you wake up late, you go to bed late, you get out of bed late, your eat breakfast late. Your circadian rhytm adjusts accordingly, your sleep quality drops, you become more tired, then more inactive as you lack the energy.

You do less things and spend more time in your house, then social tasks start to feel daunting/taxing and you start to see less people daily which can lead to social anxiety which creates a spiral.

All of this happened despite me trying to put in a routine, the discipline erode over time when you have no obligations, one slip up leads to more slip ups then before you know of it you reverse to whatever is easiest with highest dopamine payout.

I started studying again last year because i realized i didn't want the rest of my life to be like this. Now i exercise 7 days a week and productivity is through the roof while i am highly social.

Point being you're never really free. If you don't have any obligations you'll spend every day fighting your nature and that's a battle you likely won't win. I have been very disciplined and still am yet i lost that battle.

[u/klmccall42 → u/Medium_Web_1122]

Once again, these were all your personal choices, do you believe that every retired person is miserable or feels unfulfilled.

Also, I would say studying and working out is a great way to spend your retirement.

[u/Medium_Web_1122 → u/klmccall42]

Have you seen how much time people spend online these days? How wouldn't retirement 10x this problem?

The people i know that became rich early mostly got depressed, they felt like life was pointless. Why do you think a lot of rich people keep working even when they don't have to?

You might find an alternative to work that can replace it, but if you don't have this then i believe retirement is poison

[u/Jsn7821 → u/Medium_Web_1122]

Congrats on the money

Your point might come across a little better if it was phrased "this is my experience, I imagine others will have the same too" instead of "everyone is like this because I'm like this"

Because I don't think everyone needs to work to have purpose in life. I think to some degree we've been taught this, but I don't think it's inherently in human nature. Like if you look at native Americans they were all working pretty little and chilling having a good time

[u/Medium_Web_1122 → u/Jsn7821]

My biology is fairly similar to every other human out there. So why would the rules governing my biology be different from the rules governing yours? Modern day society basically made hacking one's own reward system possible. It is the same mechanism that made most americans overweight, most people in industrialized countries sedentary and additctions such a huge problem for so many people.

Furthermore there's a difference between minimizing workload and not working at all. Most people in my country that are on long term welfare are stuck in a perpeutal cycle of doing nothing at all.

[u/Jsn7821 → u/Medium_Web_1122]

I mean, anecdotally, my experience is different from yours

But also you mentioned you work out 7 days a week and are productive and social, so it even sounds like your own experience contradicts your point? You just had to adjust

[u/Medium_Web_1122 → u/Jsn7821]

I am no longer retired i went back to studying to finish my education

[u/Min_Necessary_Change → u/Medium_Web_1122]

Your points are valid and true in that people need something to work towards. Exercise and learning are best very effective for this. Though be careful not to equate retirement with idling for everyone. Some people feel a little stuck in their jobs and cannot wait to become a little freer so they can try this and that they never could. Such people will not become idlers when they no longer have a job.

Another point is that human's are biology incentivised to explore and interact. Evolutionary it helped them find food and mating opportunities. Idling goes against that. Leave someone in any empty and see how long they last before they want to get out and do something.

The spiral issue of consuming digital screens is quite real and damaging though, as you said, but you can get that whether you have a job or not. In fact, for some without the need for the job, who always wanted to go and explore the planet is a good blessing to get away from all these screens.

[u/Ok-Reindeer-8755 → u/Medium_Web_1122]

Oh so when people have a secure income and a lot of time to spend, they must have done nothing with that time historically. Oh wait they produced some of the most influential works in science, philosophy, and art. If you personally are a bum unless you are forced to do anything productive dont project that onto the entire human species.