[ExI] The Robot Big Bang

[BillK]

On 22 February 2015 at 14:57, Anders Sandberg
> You are missing my point. What is seen as a problem often depends on one's
> political outlook. And whether a problem is acknowledged may depend on
> whether the solutions are acceptable or not.
>
> In the US poverty and incarceration are not seen as major problems by a
> large fraction of people. One strong reason IMHO is that many suggested
> solutions - redistribution, unified healthcare systems, a non-retributive
> penal system - are unacceptable to them for ideological reasons. Yes, this
> is totally backwards. In a sane world people would identify problems first,
> then look for solutions, and then agree on the acceptable ones. But in
> practice people turn things around. Which is why so many of your politicians
> are convinced there cannot be anthopogenic climate change - the proposed
> solutions smell bad ideologically.
>
> http://www.aleph.se/andart/archives/2014/06/do_we_have_to_be_good_to_set_things_right.html
>
> So if you want to sell politicians on the idea that the robots are coming,
> do not link it too strongly to a particular socioeconomic remedy.
>
> Otherwise, I foresee a real risk that we will end up with the US liberals
> embracing the robot big bang as a reason to have guaranteed basic income,
> and hence the US conservatives systematically blocking any research into AI
> consequences as a result. The end result might be no income and no safety at
> all.
>

Oh I didn't miss your point at all. :)
But the robots are coming whether politicians like it or not. In fact
politicians are encouraging robot development as they increase
corporate profits. (Not necessarily increasing productivity - robots
just need to be lower cost than humans to increase profits).

If the politicians' ideology says that the solution to human
unemployment is starvation, brutalisation and imprisonment of more and
more unemployed people, then the future is bleak indeed.

Hopefully democracy will prevail to help the people, but the corporate
states that most western nations have developed appear to place a low
value on unemployed or disabled people with little money.


BillK