Stephen Downes

"Billionaires poured trillions into AI because they are obsessed with the fantasy of a world without people," writes Cory Doctorow. Why? "Other people insist on having their own priorities and goals, and they mulishly refuse to organize their lives to suit your priorities." The beauty of AI is that it does what you want without needing to be persuaded (or paid). Where does that leave people? They become "the unnecessariat: workers who are surplus to requirements and can be vaporized or liquidated or warehoused or simply ignored." It all makes sense, says Doctorow, "provided you don't believe that other people are really, truly real."