[ExI] Post-AGI Economics

[Kelly Anderson]

On Thu, Oct 26, 2023 at 3:54 PM Gadersd via extropy-chat
<extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> > So... if you want humans to maintain ANY relevance, you'll have to let
> > AGIs own, spend and earn money. Otherwise, good money chases out bad
> > money, and dollars will be a memory, much like atlatls are now.
>
> That was the main idea I had in mind: get the AIs invested in a particular decentralized system of money and hopefully the benefits of continuing to use and respect that system will keep the humans who have a stake in that system relevant at least long enough for uploading et al. to be viable. As long as humans and AIs respect and use a common decentralized system of currency that should keep us aligned to some extent.
>

I agree. Having a common currency between humans and AIs is definitely
helpful for exchange to continue between species. AGIs might see the
advantage to this if they are imbued with a survival instinct (Bostrom
has a lot to say about the pluses and minuses of a survival instinct
in his book Super Intelligence if I remember correctly) and want to be
relevant when newer AIs come online. Thus aligning slower/obsolete
AGIs with humans. Could be helpful to some degree. The more rights we
give aging AGIs, it seems these rights might spill downwards to humans
and animals as well. Rights to own property/money and engage in
contractual obligations of some form seems like a pretty basic "human"
right and the more of these we extend to AGIs, the better off our
future rights might look. I haven't thought super deeply about this,
but it seems right or close to right on a first passing thought.

> > If you want to have a deeper understanding about the history and
> > possible futures of money, I'm definitely your guy. I am the guy who
> > wanted the equivalent of crypto currency for a company I was
> > developing in 1997... but didn't quite have the time to chase it to
> > ground. Another missed opportunity... you can't chase them all.
>
> I welcome any insights you have. I started an AI company and am currently developing AGI-capable algorithms. A smooth shift of power from humans to machines is one of my goals. Do you think shifting to an economy held together via decentralized technology such as cryptocurrency is the way to go, or are there other viable paths?
>

I think that crypto Defi is too complex for humans to manage alone,
and that we will need AGIs to fully utilize smart contracts, etc. I'm
pretty certain that smart contracts and Defi and their successors are
an important part of the future of money/business. Working the
preservation of any humans and human interests involved into
ethereum-type contracts might be another way to help assure human
survival. AGIs that want to make a living would be a good thing.
Greedy AGIs might be very bad (infinite paper clips and all). Working
human interests into the fulfilling of ethereum contracts might be a
way to get AGIs interested in making profits that align better with
human interests in a contractually mutually beneficial way. Think...
"I'll protect that human and his family because I want to make profit
from the XYZ contract that requires their well-being to continue."

Sorry if this has already been brought up on the list. I haven't been
following for a while.

-Kelly