What will humans do if technology solves everything?

Weekly Business Insights from Top Ten Business Magazines

Extractive summaries and key takeaways from the articles curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Since September 2017 | Week 344 | April 12-18, 2024

Shaping Section | 1

What will humans do if technology solves everything?

The Economist | April 9, 2024

Extractive Summary of the Article | Listen

When technology has solved humanity’s deepest problems, what is left to do?  That is one question considered in a new publication “Deep Utopia” by Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at the University of Oxford.  Under one scenario Mr Bostrom contemplates, the technology progresses to the point at which it can do all economically valuable work at near-zero cost. Under a yet more radical scenario, even tasks that you might think would be reserved for humans, such as parenting, can be done better by AI. This may sound more dystopian than utopian, but Mr Bostrom argues otherwise.

Start with the first scenario, which Mr Bostrom labels a “post-scarcity” utopia. In such a world, the need for work would be reduced.  In the rich world average weekly working hours have dropped from more than 60 in the late 19th century to fewer than 40 today and spend more time on leisure activities.  As Mr Bostrom writes, when aided by powerful tech, “the space of possible-for-us experiences extends far beyond those that are accessible to us with our present unoptimised brains.”

Yet Mr Bostrom’s label of a “post-scarcity” utopia might be slightly misleading: the economic explosion caused by superintelligence would still be limited by physical resources, most notably land. Although space exploration may hugely increase the building space available, it will not make it infinite. There are also intermediate worlds where humans develop powerful new forms of intelligence, but do not become space-faring. In such worlds, wealth may be fantastic, but lots of it could be absorbed by housing—much as is the case in rich countries today.  Positional goods”, which boost the status of their owners, are also still likely to exist and are, by their nature, scarce.

Several groups in society today give us a sense of how future humans might spend their time. Aristocrats and bohemians enjoy the arts. Monastics live within themselves. Athletes spend their lives on sport. The retired dabble in all these pursuits.

These dynamics suggest a “paradox of progress”. Although most humans want a better world, if tech becomes too advanced, they may lose purpose. Mr Bostrom argues that most people would still enjoy activities that have intrinsic value, such as eating tasty food. Utopians, believing life had become too easy, might decide to challenge themselves, perhaps by colonising a new planet to try to re-engineer civilisation from scratch. At some point, however, even such adventures might cease to feel worthwhile. It is an open question how long humans would be happy hopping between passions, as Peer does in “Permutation City”. Economists have long believed that humans have “unlimited wants and desires”, suggesting there are endless variations on things people would like to consume. With the arrival of an AI utopia, this would be put to the test. Quite a lot would ride on the result.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. When technology has solved humanity’s deepest problems, what is left to do?  That is one question considered in a new publication “Deep Utopia” by Nick Bostrom, a philosopher at the University of Oxford.
2. What happens if AI goes extraordinarily well? Under one scenario Mr Bostrom contemplates, the technology progresses to the point at which it can do all economically valuable work at near-zero cost.  This may sound more dystopian than utopian, but Mr Bostrom argues otherwise.
3. Humans are going to experience “paradox of progress”. Although most humans want a better world, if tech becomes too advanced, they may lose purpose. Mr Bostrom argues that most people would still enjoy activities that have intrinsic value, such as eating tasty food.  At some point, however, events such as colonising a new planet might cease to feel worthwhile. It is an open question how long humans would be happy hopping between passions.

Full Article

(Copyright lies with the publisher)

Topics:  Artificial Intelligence, Humans, Civilization