Like most people, I am waiting anxiously to find out if Artificial Intelligence is going to kill us all. Even the experts can't agree about this. Their expert guesses are all over the place, from "maybe there is a small but real chance that it might" all the way to "Oh yeah. Totally./I am relying on experts to figure this out, and I would like them to do so really, really fast.
If you would also like a little reassurance about the possibility of annihilation, the Moonshots podcast is a good source of timely information. On Moonshots, three smart science guys and Alex—who may or may not be an android from the future—discuss emerging tech. Alex uses so many big technology words that he reminds me of when I practiced medicine and tried to use the biggest medical words I knew. I often had no clue what was happening medically, but the big words seemed to reassure the patients. I think Alex has an IQ of approximately 350 and knows exactly what he’s talking about.
So I look to him and the other smart people on Moonshots to give me a heads up if things are looking dicey, annihilation-wise.
If Artificial Intelligence decides we can stick around as long as we behave ourselves, we still have a thorny problem to address. What happens when computers can do all the work? I'm not just talking about intelligent systems like Grok and ChatGPT writing all the humor essays. We're talking about ALL the jobs. Even those twelve essential Department of Transportation guys who stand around guarding each pothole on our nation's highways may eventually be replaced.
So what is to be done? According to Moonshots, there are three possible solutions:
Universal Basic Income… Washington sends everyone a check once a month to cover basic expenses like housing, food, and mocha lattes. The check will arrive every Tuesday, unless it is a national holiday or the check is for a month with a vowel in it, in which case the check will be sent to someone in Kansas City with a name similar to yours.
Universal Basic Services… Instead of a check, the government sends everybody the essentials like a house, food, and mocha lattes for “free”, and keeps 87% of the wealth generated by AI as a "handling fee". You will receive a large package containing an actual single-wide trailer, a thirty-day supply of bologna sandwiches and a cold cup of Folger's Coffee Crystals.
Universal Basic Equity… The easiest way to explain UBE is to imagine that everyone has their own robot. I like this solution because I have always wished for a robot. I would name my robot Spike. Spike would go out with eleven of his robot buddies and stand around a pothole, or do some other productive work. When Spike came home after a hard day at work, I'd make him fork over his paycheck to cover his recharging costs and other miscellaneous made-up expenses.
We have no way of knowing which solution will finally win. The guys on Moonshots were a little vague on this, though Alex seemed to favor Option 3, since he might be a robot himself.
You might—this is just a suggestion—start planning for the amazing changes coming to our world. Think of a good name for YOUR robot. Keep in mind that the names “Alex” and “Spike” are already taken.
If no solution to the employment issue is found, I do have a backup plan. My friends George and Maureen Williams have a large house with plenty of empty bedrooms, now that the children have all grown and left. And Maureen always cooks way too much, even though it's just her and George at home now. Spike and I will show up on their doorstep one day. I'm sure they won't mind.