The Seth MacFarlane TV show, The Orville, took place 500 years in the future. It was a Star Trek parody. In it, there was a planetary union consisting of members from multiple planets. There is no income. What they had were machines like a matter synthesizer and a food synthesizer that make food and objects. Everyone has access to them so, no one needs an income to meet their needs.
The Orville season 3 - Wikipedia
A recurring talking point in the show is that a civilization has to be ready to share everything. To be open to not having a wealth class structure. People did not receive an income. Incomes are not needed any longer. Currency is no longer necessary to procure necessities to survive. Their worth is measured on their character. They observe other planets and have a strict rule against "planetary contamination". Meaning, you can't be seen by people of that other culture unless necessary. That's because some cultures are not ready to learn that there is life on other planets.
I think about these synthesizers as I read about AI. We are not ready yet. This doesn't work when greed exists. What the show warned about when they talk about introducing it too soon, is happening now. In the final episode of The Orville: New Horizons. A girl from a previously visited planet is brought back. Her planet is like ours is now and she is trying to sneak the Orville tech back to her home planet. They talk about the dangers it could lead to introducing this technology before people are ready for equality.
Right now, jobs are being lost with nowhere for those employees to go to earn a living. New college grads can't find work either. The rich are greedily getting richer at the expense of the lower and middle class. GDP is not a good reference for the economy since it doesn't give a realistic view of what life is like. Currency is essential and is being withheld. Class structure is still in place.
These AI companies need to be regulated. They need to be required to create jobs instead of hogging the entire bakery. They need to give away the baked goods inside. What is about to happen is more violence. People get desperate when they lose their jobs and can't find new ones for too long. When the laws work against them and the courts side with the rich and greedy fat cats that put them in this position to begin with. The response is violence. Like that Molotov Cocktail thrown at Sam Aldman's house. That violence will happen more, juries will side with the defendant because of their own issues with AI, and no one will have sympathy when these AI enablers and their customers are targeted.
Because it's too soon for AI. Yes, everyone has access to it. But we do not have that "everyone gets an equal share of the pie" mentality yet. Income is still necessary and we are in survival of the fittest mode. Until everyone no longer needs to worry about their needs getting met, it's too soon for AI. Because those matter synthesizers are what comes next. But, if they come before equality is embraced, then the rich will hog it and violence and destruction will follow.
Is AI the next step towards that fictional universe Seth MacFarlane created? Possibly. But for it to truly serve us all it needs to be regulated, and the economics part needs to be addressed. A basic income provided by a large tax on AI companies might sound expensive. But that might be what it takes to prevent violence and start the process of embracing economic equality.
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