Utopia | Dystopia

A short Specification Gaming Story

Inspired by:

Such AI, much WOW! https://t.co/Jc8SNdmyLX

— Dr. Roman Yampolskiy (@romanyam) April 25, 2024

(Meant to be read as an allegory.
AGI will probably unlock the ability to realise even the wildest, most unthinkable and fantastical dreams,
but we need to be extreeeeemely careful with the specifications we give
and we won’t get any iterations to improve it)

How realistic is a utopia where different species with extremely/vastly different levels of IQ trade with eachother?

It’s so funny when people say that we could just trade with a superintelligent/super-numerous AI.

We don’t trade with ants.

We don’t trade with chimps. We don’t trade with pigs.

and definitely, WE DONT TRADE WITH TREES AND PLANTS!

We take what we want!

If there’s something they have that we want, we enslave them. Or worse! We go and farm them!

A superintelligent/super-numerous AI killing us all isn’t actually the worst outcome of this reckless gamble the tech companies are making with all our lives.

If the AI wants something that requires living humans and it’s not aligned with our values, it could make factory farming look like a tropical vacation.

We’re superintelligent compared to animals and we’ve created hell for trillions of them

Let’s not risk repeating this.

The thing that keeps me up at night is that quote of
“what they’re doing now with pixels, later they could do with flesh”

“If the AI wants something that requires living humans and it’s not aligned with our values, it could make factory farming look like a tropical vacation.”

“and humanity will stride through the pillars of Boaz and Jachin, naked into the glory of a golden age” (from “Don’t Look Up)

UBI sounds great on paper, but in reality it is a really terrible idea for 99.99% of all humans.

Pros:

Free Money!
No need to work. Ever.
Free time to do fun stuff.

Cons:

There is no way to actually make UBI immutably universal (Laws can be changed, promises broken, …)

When your job is fully automated, you have no value for the Elites and are now dispensable.

Worse yet, you are now a burden, a cost, a “parasite” for the system. There is no incentive to keep you around.

Historically even the most cruel of rulers have been dependent on their subjects for labor and resources.

Threat of rebellion kept even the most vicious Despots in check.
However, rebellion is no longer an option under UBI system.

At any point, UBI might get revoked and you have no appeal.
Remember: Law, Police, Army, everything is now fully Al automated and under Elites’ control.

If the Elites revoke your UBI, what are you going to do?
Rebel?
Against army of billion Al drones & ever present surveillance?