Many think that the massive investment in artificial intelligence (AI) is creating a massive investment bubble. Will Kenton for Investopedia explains, "An economic bubble is marked by rapid escalation in asset prices, often due to speculative behavior, followed by a sharp contraction."
In Forbes, Peter Cohan warns that a burst would wipe out $40 trillion from the Nasdaq.
And here's some more fun: Bubbly AI investment is pretty much the only thing going on in the US economy.
As awful as that may be, it may actually be, comparatively, good news. Worse news would be AI truly, rapidly developing as its creators intend. Bear with me a moment.
The AI feeding frenzy is made up entirely of very wealthy people.
It is a closed-loop internal churn. Multi-millionaires are becoming billionaires, and billionaires are adding to their billions—thanks to billionaires adding to their billions.
But wait: Aren't many regular people benefiting from the tech stock boom? Not so much.
According to Inequality.org, "the richest one percent own a greater share of the stock market than ever before." MSN reports that "the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans own 90 percent of the stock market," and Business Insider also states that the "bottom 50 percent of Americans held just one percent of all stocks."
It's hard for regular people to afford stocks when they can't afford food.
Speaking of paychecks, this brings us back to AI and why the Elite are so frenzied in their rush for it.
Most people find it highly contradictory that the city of Wall Street may be about to elect a communist as mayor. It's really not at all contradictory.
There has been some billionaire opposition to his candidacy. But most Elites should welcome the commie's arrival in Albany. And probably, secretly are, because communism and AI both deliver exactly what the Elites want: A very wealthy few (them) – completely removed and insulated from the broke and broken masses.
The Elites loathe having to interact with the rest of us. Let alone having to hire and pay us. Thank goodness for AI.
Many of those really distasteful blue collar workers will be gone. Even the blue collar gigs we think are safe aren't that safe.
AI will very rapidly move throughout all manners of traditional employment, consuming just about everything. It won't just be blue collar gigs gone and forgotten. AI will ultimately fulfill the Elites' ultimate dream: Them and theirs, left all alone with their very many payroll-free digital slaves. The rest of us rendered Serfs, on the outside looking in.
Just look at these headlines:
- AI Replacing Jobs? CEOs Sound The Alarm For White-Collar Workers
- AI Is Disappearing Entry-Level Office Jobs
- AI Is Taking Over Accounting Jobs
- 16 Tech Leaders on AI Replacing Lawyers
- Bill Gates Predicts We Won't Need Humans 'For Most Things' in the Age of AI
You think humans living paycheck to paycheck is bad? Try doing it without the paycheck.
And if you think a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is the answer, please keep in mind the government's tremendous track record with other wealth redistribution programs.
And in case we Serfs decide to awaken from our decades-long slumber and oppose the fate the Elites have inflicted upon us? There's this:
- Billionaires Are Buying Islands and Building Secret Bunkers
- Apocalypse Now? Why Tech Billionaires Are Suddenly Hoarding Doomsday Mega-Bunkers
The better to keep their distance, of course.
But sometimes, the Elites slip up and let us know what they're thinking.
UNILAD, reporting on PayPal founder Peter Thiel speaking with Ross Douthat, stated, "the pair got to talking about artificial intelligence and its role in society going forward. Douthat threw out a rather simple question that most would expect would be an easy answer, but Thiel seemed to hesitate in a rather dramatic fashion.... The host asked Thiel 'You would prefer the human race to endure, right?' Thiel hesitated, doing some umm-ing and ahh-ing, even at one point saying 'I don't know.'"
That sounds an awful lot like what their AI is already doing. Like fathers, like sons.
Which inexorably leads us to the "Godfathers of AI" warning us that "super-intelligence could trigger human extinction."
And in case you were wondering, "Recent tests by independent researchers, as well as one major AI developer, have shown that several advanced AI models will act to ensure their self-preservation when they are confronted with the prospect of their own demise - even if it takes sabotaging shutdown commands, blackmailing engineers or copying themselves to external servers without permission."
Doesn't all of that sound promising?
There is, however, (at least) one question I am still left pondering: What makes the Elites think they will remain exempt from the AI fate they are inflicting upon the rest of us?
Methinks AI has further blinded them with hubris.
Beware your monster, Doctor Frankenstein.