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Yeah, it's kinda depressing to realize that some of the most optimistic scenarios for AI will still result in a lot of human misery. It's fun to be a trust fund baby, but if all the hoi polloi are trust fund babies too, it kinda loses its shine. You are just another unemployed loser who can't get a reservation at any of the best restaurants. And if you want to earn extra money beyond your UBI, you need to take some demeaning job as a personal servant for the grandchild of some schmuck who was lucky enough to put $10,000 into the right stock at the right time.
There is a story they used to teach in American history classes in high school that many of the early immigrants to the United States were people who had been locked out of European status hierarchies and decided to make a fresh start of things. Perhaps a similar sentiment will drive migration to the stars.
This is why we should have a real meritocracy instead of a luckocracy. My only problem with Sam Altman is that he isn't enough of a genius. His product is good and better people ought to have more money than the rabble.
Well in your meritocracy, would people be able to bequeath resources to their descendants?
Yes, because I value latent merit.
Ok, so let me amend my scenario a bit:
And if you want to earn extra money beyond your UBI, you need to take some demeaning job as a personal servant for the wastrel great grandchild of some admittedly brilliant software engineer whose indolent son had a fling with a stripper.
Yes, but he doesn't have the latent merit, and we can measure that. So the scenario would only be
But so what? It's pretty normal for people to bequeath wealth to their wastrel descendants.
It's also normal for people to gain wealth through luck, but I want to stop that.
Except for the luck of being a genetic descendant of the right person, right? I mean, look at the scenario I laid out: Some brilliant guy does brilliant things and gets fabulously wealthy. His son has a fling with a stripper, resulting in a bastard child. Before dying in a motorcycle accident, the bastard child has a 6 month relationship with a girl he meets in community college who lies about being on birth control, resulting in a great-grandchild. A few years later an attorney shows up at some trailer park to tell a single mom that she is now a billionaire.
Ok, that's an exaggeration but you get my point.
I myself have a family member who is a total drug-addict screwup who had only one full time job at age 21, which she held down for about 3 weeks before getting in a fight with her supervisor and getting fired. It's been more than 30 years and she hasn't worked since, instead living off of family money. A trust is being up which will give her a mid-6 figure income (tax free) for the rest of her life.
Would you call that luck?
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