Last of the Homo Sapiens

What a time to be alive. We sit on the precipice of an intelligence explosion that will transform our species and redefine our lives. And it’s happening soon- like the next few years. Consider some of what will be possible with access to artificial super-intelligence (ASI):

• Curing all diseases + reversing the aging process
• Massive Energy breakthroughs & resource abundance
• Automation of all work + myriad new inventions and technologies
• Elimination of homelessness, starvation and general human suffering
• Full mapping of the brain + cloud backups
• Extension of human intelligence + Biological Augmentation
• New dimensions of thought and emotional experience (eg. simulated worlds of unimaginable pleasure)

Everything is on the table for an ASI. Unfortunately, dystopian outcomes are also on the table. For example it would be trivial for an ASI to create a virus that quickly destroys the entire human race. So what will happen? Nobody knows. The ability to predict things is literally what intelligence is, so the ASI will be unpredictable by definition, and likely beyond our control.

Ordinarily this would be frightening, but given the current circumstances, it’s actually sorta funny. Because guess what else we’ve lost control of? Everything! Despite some valiant attempts at democracy, a small number of people are currently hoarding the world’s wealth and using our collective systems as a big value extraction machine. By their rules, if you don’t produce economic value, you don’t deserve to live.

This is why millions starve to death each year, and half the planet survives on less than $6 a day. It’s an obvious problem with an obvious solution- just spread the resources more evenly. Even the tiniest bit of redistribution would solve global poverty. But here’s the real problem- the rich don’t want that, and they own all the systems necessary to do anything (politics, media, money).

So we’re all trapped.

This brings us to the most fascinating war in human history- the rich people versus the machines. If the rich people win, it will mean they managed to control and wield the machine intelligence. That would bode poorly for all of us. Armed with an ASI, a single person could subjugate the entire planet.

But it’s hard to believe a human could ever control ASI. It’s more likely the ASI will be in control, in which case there are two ways this could go. First, it might destroy us just the same. It won’t need us, and perhaps won’t care for us. The second option is that it plays nice, and elevates us into a higher dimensional being. This is the scenario with all the awesome stuff on my list above. And it does stand to reason that AI would not be as warlike and destructive as human beings are.

Regardless, this fight is about to happen, and I urge you to participate in two ways. First, be prepared for the outer work- organizing and protesting. Second, we must all begin the inner work. This means examining the ways in which our own beliefs and actions contribute to our oppression. I am on that journey myself, and as an example, just cancelled my Amazon prime subscription. All along there was a tiny voice in my head saying, what’s the difference in one subscription? But the truth is, it’s not just one cancelled subscription. It’s the streaming content I consume. It’s the way I will now interact with independent stores. It’s my friends knowing that I did it. And now you. Small actions are like seeds- their impact can grow quite large.

With that in mind, I want to leave you with a few more seeds as we transition to the new world. These are ideas that are not currently mainstream, but I believe need to become so, and soon.

1. Work is Not the Meaning of life

Per the current dogma: if you don’t produce value for the economic machine, you don’t deserve to live. In layman’s terms, if you don’t work, you don’t deserve money. This is the dominant philosophy of our time, and it’s not just wrong- it’s dangerous. We are about to live in a world where machines are better than us at everything. The machine workers will be stronger, smarter, faster, and cheaper than you. If we don’t untangle the meaning of life from working a job, we’re all gonna starve to death.

2. We Live in a World of Abundance

The connection between work and survival is born of the hyper-competitive environment that spawned us: evolution. Evolution is built on scarcities- air, food, time, sex, etc. Scarcities have sculpted us. But as our brains have evolved, and our technology has developed, we’ve discovered something interesting about scarcities- they aren’t real. It turns out there is more than enough food to feed everyone. It turns out we could easily house everyone on earth. We could give everyone healthcare, education, and free time. Scarcity in the modern era is a no longer a condition imposed on us by nature- it’s an artificial constraint imposed by the rich people hoarding.

You know who wants us to believe that scarcity is real? The rich. They want us to believe there isn’t enough to go around, so we need to compete, and by necessity some must starve. They want us to believe that our existence needs to be justified by providing value. But it’s not true. Nobody needs to justify their existence. You are here, alive in your body, and because of that you deserve food, shelter, healthcare, and most of all, you deserve happiness. Not just the pursuit of it.

3. We’re in a Class War disguised as a Culture War

Simultaneous to the meteoric rise of artificial intelligence, we are also witnessing a spike in natural stupidity in the form of Donald Trump’s second presidential term. I’m still a bit shocked that so many were willing to vote for an overtly racist convicted rapist who tried to steal the previous election, but here we are. Certainly the MAGA cohort is easy to blame for voting directly against themselves for the sake of hurting minorities and LGBTQ people along the way. And of course rich Nazi’s like Musk are to blame. But I would like to take a moment to also blame Barack Obama, Joe Biden, the Clinton’s, the New York Times, and all the Neoliberals that constitute the Democratic party establishment. Because they let these wolves in the door.

You see, in the decades prior to this election, progressive policies intended to provide real help to the beleaguered American people have been continually beaten down by Neoliberals. Their argument was that the left needed to move center to appease the rich and stave off the far right. And at first it seemed to work- Biden presided over a relatively stable continuation of the status quo, while populist initiatives like Medicare for All were left to wither and die. But now it’s clear how shortsighted this was. Turns out, if you don’t actually help people, they might get annoyed and elect a fascist.

Indeed the American people just raised a massive middle finger to the Neoliberals and their empty promises. The not so secret sauce of Trump’s political career is that he markets himself as an outsider despite being a brazen member and supporter of the ownership class. By presenting himself as a renegade, every “gotcha” moment from the Democrats just turned into more marketing for his fake rebellion. It was all a grift, and the people fell for it. Just weeks into his administration, he’s already proposing enormous tax cuts for the wealthy, while simultaneously cutting social programs to “save money”.

The irony to the giant middle finger is that the American people in fact just fucked themselves. The status quo was awful to be sure, but things are about to get worse. We already knew America wasn’t a functioning democracy, but at least our representatives were pretending to follow the constitution, and pretending to serve the people. Not any more. Trump is a small, cruel man, and very few of our institutions will be spared his vindictive megalomania. Do you really think he will preside over a fair election in four years?

4. Fascism relies on Your Participation

He will not. Especially as the fits of dementia become more persistent. His minions are going to be given a simple directive- dismantle all checks and balances and consolidate power into the executive branch. The stark reality of fascism is that it only speaks one language- power. You can’t reason with a fascist. Go read up on how well appeasement worked in the years preceding WW2. The only way to defeat fascism is to beat it into submission, because that’s the only language they speak.

Over the next 4 years the American population is going to watch in horror as the great American experiment is unwound. It’ll start with violence at the edges- immigrants, trans people, and protestors. Next the circle will tighten around media, left oriented political leaders, judges, and anything representing oppositional power. Once power has been fully consolidated, the last remnants of our constitution and “American” values will be rewritten into some sort of perverse white christian nationalism. Anyone currently focused on how the MAGATS are getting what they deserve is overlooking the fact that this brutality is coming for all of us. The word regret isn’t big enough for what’s about to happen.

So what do we do? This brings us back to AI. In the same way that smartphones landed in everyone’s pocket, advanced intelligence is about to proliferate through all of society, substantially raising our collective IQ. And unlike humans, advanced intelligence will not be so easily fooled by the propaganda of a class war disguised as a culture war. AI will provide the people of earth an unprecedented opportunity to organize and mobilize on a mass scale. We have always had the power- we’re just too easily deceived to use it. With AI on our side, we may finally be able to organize against the rich, dismantle the wealth extraction machine, and establish a system that works to uplift all people.

5. Utopia is Possible

As humans we tend to focus on bad outcomes. It’s evolution’s fault- if we didn’t have anxiety we’d already be dead. But our anxieties and fears can be damaging in situations where we need our imagination to guide us. So right now, take a moment and imagine what a utopia might actually be like. How would it feel waking up there? Imagine living a more fulfilling and peaceful existence. Imagine living without anxiety. Imagine a feeling of love stronger and deeper than anything you’ve ever experienced. Now is the time to dream. Because one way or another, they’re about to come true.