[ExI] Review - The Intelligence Curse video

[BillK]

Gemini AI liked the 16 min. video that John Clark recommended!

Perhaps he is looking forward to the demise of humanity?

BillK


Gemini 3 Pro Thinking -

This video, titled *"Yes, AI Will Take Your Job. But What Happens NEXT Is
Worse,"* is a narrative visualization by the channel *Species* of a
specific economic theory called the *"Intelligence Curse."*

Published in late 2025, the video adapts the essay series of the same name
(likely by researchers Luke Drago and Rudolf Laine) into a "future history"
scenario. It argues that the arrival of Artificial General Intelligence
(AGI) will not just cause temporary unemployment, but will fundamentally
break the social contract by making human labor economically irrelevant.
*1. Video Summary: The "Pyramid Replacement"*

The video presents a step-by-step timeline of how an organization—and
society—collapses under the pressure of AI agents:

   -

   *Phase 1: Junior Staff (The Entry Level):* AI agents, initially treated
   as tools, rapidly outperform junior employees. Companies stop hiring
   entry-level workers and fire existing ones to cut costs, as AI is cheaper
   and faster.
   -

   *Phase 2: Middle Management:* With no junior staff to manage and AI
   agents capable of self-coordination, middle managers become obsolete. The
   "human in the loop" becomes a bottleneck rather than a safeguard.
   -

   *Phase 3: The Executive Level:* Eventually, even the CEO is replaced. An
   AI can monitor operations, execute decisions, and optimize profits 24/7
   with perfect recall and no fatigue.
   -

   *The Societal Fallout:* As unemployment hits 25% (surpassing Great
   Depression levels), the displaced workforce demands a Universal Basic
   Income (UBI). However, the video argues that UBI will be rejected. Because
   the government's tax revenue now comes primarily from AI-run corporations
   rather than income tax, politicians have no incentive to listen to the
   penniless masses. Protests are ignored or censored, and society stratifies
   into a tiny elite of capital owners and a vast, irrelevant underclass.

*2. The Core Concept: The Intelligence Curse*

The video's central intellectual contribution is the parallel it draws
between *AI* and the *Resource Curse* (or Paradox of Plenty).

   -

   *The Resource Curse:* Historically, countries rich in natural resources
   (like oil or diamonds) often end up with authoritarian governments and poor
   populations (e.g., Venezuela, Congo). Because the state's wealth comes from
   extracting resources rather than taxing the labor of its citizens, the
   government doesn't need to invest in the people (education, healthcare,
   rights) to stay rich.
   -

   *The Intelligence Curse:* The video argues that AGI will act like a
   natural resource. If "intelligence" can be mined from server farms more
   cheaply than it can be cultivated in humans, human capital becomes
   worthless. Power will concentrate in the hands of those who own the "mines"
   (data centers and models), and they will have no economic incentive to
   share that wealth with the redundant human population.

*3. Review and Critical Discussion*

   -

   *Strengths:*
   -

      *The Political Economy Angle:* Unlike many AI critiques that focus on
      "Terminator" scenarios or simple job loss, this video correctly
identifies
      that the real danger might be *political disempowerment*. It
      challenges the optimistic assumption that "the government will
just pay us
      UBI" by asking *why* they would do that if we have no leverage.
      -

      *The "Vibes" Critique:* The segment where Alice (the protagonist)
      realizes people are more focused on celebrity drama than their
own economic
      demise is a biting critique of modern attention economies,
suggesting that
      distraction will prevent effective collective action.
      -

      *Production:* The narrative is compelling and horrifyingly grounded
      in corporate logic (e.g., "Performance Improvement Plans" used
as a prelude
      to firing).
      -

   *Critiques & Nuance:*
   -

      *Speed of Adoption:* The video assumes a hyper-fast transition
      (doubling of capability every 7 months) where companies ruthlessly cut
      staff immediately. In reality, bureaucratic inertia, legal
liabilities, and
      cultural resistance often slow down technology adoption even when it is
      technically superior.
      -

      *The OpenAI Charter Claim:* The video states OpenAI's charter
      explicitly sets the goal "to replace all human labor." This is an
      interpretation. The charter defines AGI as "systems that
outperform humans
      at most economically valuable work," but the *goal* stated is to
      ensure it "benefits all of humanity." The video argues that the
      *definition* necessitates the replacement, regardless of the stated
      benevolent *goal*.
      -

      *Dystopian Determinism:* The video presents this path as nearly
      inevitable if current incentives remain. It offers little in the way of
      solutions other than a vague nod toward "human-centric" industries or
      democratization, leaving the viewer with a sense of hopelessness.

*Conclusion*

This is a significant piece of AI commentary because it moves the goalposts
from "will AI do my job?" to "will I matter to the economy at all?" It is a
*must-watch* for understanding the "economic alignment" problem—the risk
that even if AI doesn't kill us, it might just ignore us to death.

*Relevant Timestamps from the Video:*

   -

   [06:40 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6mTUK_yPKw&t=400>] *The
   Executive Replacement:* When the CEO realizes the AI is doing their job
   better than they ever could.
   -

   [12:12 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6mTUK_yPKw&t=732>] *The Resource
   Curse Comparison:* Explaining why resource-rich nations often have poor
   citizens.
   -

   [14:13 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6mTUK_yPKw&t=853>] *The
   Intelligence Curse Defined:* "Humans have no leverage, no bargaining
   power."
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