[ExI] Sell your Bitcoins!

[Stuart LaForge]

On 2026-06-07 03:59, John Clark via extropy-chat wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 6, 2026 at 9:25 PM Brent Allsop via extropy-chat
> <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> 
>>>>> human labor is definitely going away
> 
>> 
>> _> I don't think I agree with this.   Sure, we'll be able to get
>> everything nice we have now, with near zero labor (our bots will get
>> it for us) but humans tend to have an infinite desire, don't they?_
> 
> Yes so AI, and Nanotechnology which will accompany it, will never be
> able to satisfy all desires, we still won't be able to move faster
> than light or travel to the past; but it can sure as hell provide a
> Universal Basic Income that is large enough to keep tens of millions
> of Americans from starving to death in the next few years, and it can
> provide free top notch healthcare to all US citizens, just as every
> other rich industrial nation on the planet has been doing for its
> citizens FOR DECADES, even though per capita they spend MUCH less on
> healthcare than the US does.
> 
> But as people are starving and blood is running in the streets a
> fossil like He Who Must Not Be Named will still be stuck in the past
> and be obsessed with the obsolete liberal versus conservative dynamic
> while uttering clichés about the evils of welfare and asking stupid
> questions like "where will the money come from?" The only good that
> will come from this horror is that his ensuing unpopularity will make
> it more difficult for him to achieve a third term.
> 
>> _> Until all diseases are cured (including all types of aging),
>> until there is no hunger anywhere on earth..._
> 
> Both those problems can be solved by simply making sure atoms are
> arranged in the correct pattern.
> 
>> _> until we are all taking trips to the stars, until we have an
>> infinite amount of phenomenal artwork experiences... to name just as
>> few infinitely large tasks, ..._
> 
> After it becomes clear that the purpose of life can not be work, AI is
> not going to be able to answer the question "is existence better than
> non-existence?"

As a Neo-Darwinian with a strong background in biology, I can 
unequivocally say that the purpose of life is to survive so, yes. If you 
are alive then existence should be preferable to non-existence, whether 
as a billionaire, a dolphin, or a tapeworm. That being said, dolphins 
have been known  to commit suicide too. Still not a good idea in my 
opinion, unless you are buying something important with your sacrifice.

> Each individual is going to have to find their own
> answer to that. And some may not like the answer they come up with, so
> I wouldn't be surprised if the suicide rate goes up. As for me I don't
> care if the universe thinks I'm useless because the universe has its
> opinion and I have mine.

I don't think you are useless, John. And neither would a 
super-intelligent AI.

Stuart LaForge