06 Jun AI can take dead people’s jobs
Image by Erik Stein from Pixabay
You know what doesn’t make me feel calm? Anyone from IBM referring to a declining population.
“IBM CEO Arvind Krishna points to declining populations to calm fears about AI taking jobs”
–https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ibm-ceo-arvind-krishna-points-235346538.html
“IBM CEO Arvind Krishna is soothing nerves about artificial intelligence stealing jobs by pointing to declining working-age populations.
Given the declines—seen in developing economies around the world—having people do routine tasks that A.I. could do is ‘not an option,’ he said. ‘We are going to need technology to do some of the mundane work so that people can do higher-value work.’ He added that ultimately ‘there is going to be job creation’ with A.I., as jobs will also be added in areas with more value creation.” -Yahoo Finance, Ibid.
I see. Ever notice how these developments are always painted with such a rosy picture?
On LinkedIn, we find “Neuralink cleared for human trials.” I have warned you about Lord Elon and his very obvious connections to the government and his very obvious connections to the military industrial complex. I don’t effing trust this guy as far as I could throw him. I don’t trust him. Not at all. I don’t understand the people that fanboy out– because it usually is men– I don’t understand the people that fanboy out about this little dweeb. That’s about the nicest thing I can think of to say about him. I don’t like him. I don’t trust him. So in this article, we find: “Neuralink — Elon Musk’s brain-implant company — said on Twitter that it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct human trials.” Well, quelle surprise. This MFer is already in bed with your government… did you really think anything else was gonna happen? “The company has been building a device than can be surgically inserted into the brain to sync up with computers, potentially treating conditions such as paralysis and blindness.” I will butt in and say: Yeah, OK, so this is about consent. If somebody is paralyzed, if somebody is blind, and they say, “I’m willing to take the risk of doing this in order to accomplish a particular goal,” I’m very libertarian about this. I don’t tell other people what to do with their body. If they want to take drugs, if they want to use alcohol, it’s not my business. If they get behind the wheel of a car and they try to mow down other people, it becomes society’s business. But look, if you’re in grandma’s basement — like all these neocons want to LARP — if you’re in grandma’s basement smoking a doobie, I don’t care. I don’t care. And if somebody has a medical condition where they feel like the risk is worth the potential reward, same thing: it’s not my business. Looking at it, from my opinion only, I feel like this is how these draconian scary things come about. They tell you all the good ways that this technology can be used and they conveniently omit all the diabolical ways that it can be used.
-“Saturday Broadcast 50,” https://www.buzzsprout.com/1125110/12898004
Exactly. Let’s ignore the potential terrible consequences and focus on positive spin. I mean, who is it that this guy is assuming will be dead and gone?
“‘Here are the facts,’ Schmidt said. ‘We are not having enough children…all the demographics say there’s going to be a shortage of humans for jobs. Literally too many jobs and not enough people for at least the next 30 years.'” -Yahoo Finance, Ibid.
OK, so wait a minute. Not enough kids. Not enough people. Labor shortage, ca-caw, ca-caw. 🦜 So is it that we supposedly need AI because there won’t be enough people or we need AI because there are already too many people and AI needs to take over the so-called menial tasks? Or is it that soon enough, part of the herd will be culled by whatever the overlords are planning to do to us next? If that sounds tinfoil hat to you, just remember we live in an age of Lord Elon getting approved to do brain chip trials in humans. 😖
“Krishna recently said that IBM would slow or suspend hiring in non-customer-facing roles that currently amount to about 26,000 workers. He added, ‘I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by A.I. and automation over a five-year period.'” -Yahoo Finance, Ibid.
What happens to the displaced workers? Are they hired somewhere else?
“AI will create ‘useless class’ of human, predicts bestselling historian
Smarter artificial intelligence is one of 21st century’s most dire threats, writes Yuval Noah Harari in follow-up to Sapiens” –https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/20/silicon-assassins-condemn-humans-life-useless-artificial-intelligence
“The crucial problem isn’t creating new jobs. The crucial problem is creating new jobs that humans perform better than algorithms. Consequently, by 2050 a new class of people might emerge – the useless class. People who are not just unemployed, but unemployable.
The same technology that renders humans useless might also make it feasible to feed and support the unemployable masses through some scheme of universal basic income. The real problem will then be to keep the masses occupied and content. People must engage in purposeful activities, or they go crazy. So what will the useless class do all day?
One answer might be computer games. Economically redundant people might spend increasing amounts of time within 3D virtual reality worlds, which would provide them with far more excitement and emotional engagement than the ‘real world’ outside.” –https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/08/virtual-reality-religion-robots-sapiens-book
Sit in your hovel with your VR goggles and go into alternate reality. I mean, it’s bound to be better than your pathetic little “real world outside” anyway. I remember reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and getting weepy about Rick’s desire to replace his electric sheep with a real one. Even writing about it now makes me misty-eyed. But that’s one possible plan: you get UBI and cricket burgers and go into VR all day. How anyone can assume these fat cats have the best interest of the working class in mind is f**king beyond me.
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