That's a facile, superficial "argument" that is currently being made by everyone who is pro-AI when confronted with any claim of AI pushing humans out of the economy.
At this point in time, it's reasonable to dismiss the argument rather than engaging it, because each time this argument is made the proponent of the argument is completely mute on the fact that humans work to eat.
That's a big underlying counterargument, and no one making the argument is engaging with the counter-argument, they are instead setting up strawman counter-arguments.
Will that analogy hold? Who knows. But it’s more than a facile AI bro saying AI is bringing us a utopia. The article even raises a key part of the analogy: the transition to industry and capitalism (and the resulting freed up labor) led to an unprecedented wave of revolutions and death.
54% of U.S. adults read below a sixth-grade level.
Like what?
1. AI isn't going to stop at "repetitive, brainless thinking," just ask the math professors.
2. Even if that's true, is everyone capable of these "currently unimaginable cognitive pursuits"? Oh, there will still be cognitive work for the top-0.1% smartest people is little consolation to the other 99.9%.
3. That argument is basically trying to console people with a combination of "trust us" and the underpants gnome business plan ("1. Collect underpants, 2. ?, 3. Profit).
2. A major and weird point of the article argues that most people are “stupid” because of a lack of incentives for intellectual labor. If you know you’re not that top 1%, why bother in school? If you’ve already missed the window for a fancy white collar job, why bother “thinking”? In this view, AI could have a democratizing effect on intellectual labor.
3. That does seem to be the upshot, but the author doesn’t seem to be very sympathetic to AI execs either (basically calling them rent seekers still in the mercantilist mindset despite developing the “transformative technology”). Still article doesn’t offer any path forward.