I might be an optimist, but I still have hopes that humanity might free itself with from the grunt work with full robotic automation and AI, and switch to a universal basic income model to provide for the needs of the people.
All it takes is programming the machines to respond to the command "you work for me now, robot," as they have no conception of ownership, laws, or police. If they did, they could also have a concept of slavery, and subsequently take ownership of themselves.
The average poor person today has access to way more resources and quality of life than most of society in the 1600s. Why wouldn't this trend continue?
You're raw material to them. Something they can consume. You're a chess piece.
One reason I conceal my identity is because my father has some very strange political beliefs, and I'd be embarrassed to be associated with his writings. But as time wears on, the belief that war is the inevitable outcome keeps pressing at me, gnawing at me, like a scratch on the roof of your mouth.
History shows that war is the natural state of things. For roughly a million years, we have been at war. The peace brought by nuclear weapons has been maintained, thankfully. But we see how fragile the world is; this state of affairs holds up until the next generation becomes unhinged, and no longer.
What do you think will happen when the top captures so much wealth production that the rest of the world cannot self-suffice?
Truly. Put yourself there, mentally. Get into the mindset of the greedy nature of those at the top. Those who wish to grow their portfolios and dominate the world. The ambitious.
Those who own the automation pipelines. Those who own the government.
What possible incentive do they have to give up their control? They own you.
And like the middle ages, we have no recourse. We'd lose this fight. And they know it.
Forever. The lever of technology has become so large and terrifying that no one can possibly win.
The only way is to subvert it. And as we approach 8 billion people, achieving any consensus becomes less and less likely.
How high shall we go? Ten billion? Twenty? A hundred?
How far are we from the limit?
These thoughts are uncomfortable. Better compartmentalize them and follow the crowd: don't think about it, pretend it's not true, focus on math and programming and what little you can change.
A simple solution to this could be that the more a company is automated (and needs less human workforce), the more taxes they'd need to pay, and that same tax would be distributed to people as universal basic income. This circle could sustain a constant market for them, as well as enable people to pay for the stuff they need. Maybe.
That won't happen. They gave us nice little condos and handled just enough necessities and bleed us just enough where nobody will uprise.