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I agree on sensing some kind of systemic collapse. It feels those with more resources are getting increasingly efficient at extracting wealth from those with fewer resources.

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I'm still trying to make sense of it.

Every tool increases efficiency at the expense of labor, but when it was the power loom and sewing machine the unemployed seamstresses and weavers couldn't afford to buy one.

This time everyone gets a power loom, though. So... what happens to the value of woven goods? And if we apply this to all modern knowledge work, what happens to the overall economy?

I'd argue that the cost of today's "loom" is less affordable than ever before. Billions of dollars to build a new frontier model from scratch. We're just taking turns playing on someone else's loom.

AI still can't cook me food, so I guess we become a purely service economy.

I get the same feeling when thinking about fast food restaurants turning a profit and then usually there is some element I don’t understand like McDonalds land investment play that justifies weaker operational margins. It’s probably going to work out fine but we are too far removed to intuitively get why.

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