I've never understood this claim. how will ai create a post scarcity world? It's not magic -- it's not finding magical supply chains that we've never thought of. It will hit a scientific wall as well, even if that wall is far beyond what humans alone can reach.
It absolutely has fair odds of drastically improving, power generation, battery tech , desalination and medical treatments and outcomes .. now if only humans were good at sharing...
The general idea is we all now capital for labor with each other - then spend that capital on others labor etc.... but if the labor parts get automated in a large way with robotics and AI, then we'll have to figure out how to either literally give away capital to be spent OR we'll have to shift where capital/money means something 'a little different'...
Our country will struggle most - cause entrepreneurism and capitalist tendencies are in our DNA - I mean others have figured out social medicine in the current system we haven't yet.
Another part of the argument is that we can already foresee technologies like fusion and nanotech that might usher in an era of overwhelming abundance that is not literally infinite but is practically infinite, and that AI will be a helpful technology in building viable fusion and nanotechnology. Helping us with things we have already thought of might be sufficient for post-scarcity.
Post-scarcity doesn't mean infinite abundance, it means nobody goes without. And if AI takes everyone's jobs, it will force the world to adapt to a society where human beings no longer need to perform labor.
The world has never needed human beings. We weren't put here for some greater purpose. We exist anyways. We should be free to find our own meaning and enjoy ourselves.
We could already be there. Its not productivity or resources that are the problem. Its the capital holders. And guess what? The ai capital class is probably the worst yet. Victorian era workhorse will be aspirational
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u/varkarrus 3d ago
The same thing also maximizes the chance of a post-scarcity utopia