Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

"According to Harari, we face a bleak future, and may become economically useless, as a result of being superseded by non-conscious AI and/or enhanced humans." This paper argues that we will not be economically useless, but bases this conclusion on an incorrect understanding of AI as algorithm, which leads to the mistaken conclusion that there is a special economic benefit to free will.  The question I ask when I read this paper is why the metric of the future must be "value" and "worth". Being "economically useless" is a bad thing only if economic usefulness is needed in order to survive, but in a world where AIs produce everything, why would that be the case? Happy will be the day when we no longer need economics, or 'economic worth', in order to survive. We can aspire to being more than bean counters.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2024
Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 07:52 a.m.

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