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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   7933 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 5, 2026

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If y'all got any other ideas, share 'em. Cause it's time to strategize. Unless you're rich already, in which case: all good. Unless Skynet scenario.

I'm lucky enough to have had a career in STEM, so I'm rich already, but I'm not confident that's going to "matter" in the long run. Where the long run might be, uh, a few years. In an economy where all real work is done by AI, are we even going to honour the increasingly-fake number that is the size of your bank account? In an AI world, does it make sense for me to be able to commandeer 1000x the resources of my never-working friends?

You might say that this would cause upheaval, but there are an awful lot more poor people who'd be in favour of this upheaval than rich people who'd be against it.

In an AI world, does it make sense for me to be able to commandeer 1000x the resources of my never-working friends?

No, and it's magical thinking based on a heuristic to think otherwise. People really need to start seeing past this. Your stuff isn't your stuff. You're just renting it. Pray the deal isn't altered.

In an economy where all real work is done by AI, are we even going to honour the increasingly-fake number that is the size of your bank account?

The question of who owns the miraculous bounty of industry has occupied organisms long before man was even around, few things are as lindy. It didn't go away when we invented machines, it's not gonna go away this time.

Even in the scenario where productivity gains are extremely high, somebody or something will still be fighting over who gets to turn which planets into computronium.

More plausibly, the secular run of the educated bourgeoisie is coming to an end, and a new aristocracy is about to rise. People always underestimate how much time these things take though.

You might say that this would cause upheaval, but there are an awful lot more poor people who'd be in favour of this upheaval than rich people who'd be against it.

Middle income families likely disagree, it is a dice roll not in their flavor, they can still go with their snp500 index fund and command the poor people, then you got the historical interesting norm where most successful revolutions were started by nobles or individual with higher wealth, they certainly aren't lossing in the current capitalism system

where most successful revolutions were started by nobles or individual with higher wealth, they certainly aren't lossing in the current capitalism system

A lot of the big successful revolutions were started off by the downwardly mobile and/or somewhat relatively-unsuccessful children of nobles, merchants and landlords. They had the education and the resources to dedicate themselves beyond subsistence, but also the motivation to take shots at the established order.

Suddenly the world has a lot of those.

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