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Comment by ThrowawayIP | Hacker News Reader

Okay, so say AI & MBAs are successful in replacing the labor spend of corporations on every level? What happens to "the economy"?

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Not much. Early economies relied on mutual trade. I give you X and in return you give me Y. Soon we realized that you cannot always give Y in return immediately, so we invented accounting to keep track of your promise to give me Y at some point in the future. As time went by eventually we stopped caring about getting Y back in return and started taking an interest in collecting the promises themselves (i.e. profit).

Why would someone want to collect promises? That seems rather silly, right? What having a lot of promises gives you is social standing. People treat you differently — better — when they give you their promises. If traditional labor goes away, the economy simply becomes you promising to hold those who have things in the highest regard; to be there as their friend when they call for you to. That is the same modern economy we already have but with less steps.

It transitions back to a more feudalist state. The series finale to "you will own nothing and be happy."

That is, if they're successful.

Is there any reason to believe they won't be?

The sheer number of people who would have nothing left to lose would probably fight back, literally, at that point.

People tend to get excited when they can't eat and despite its timidity America is exceptionally well-armed. That sounds cute in a post drone strike world, but if the government attacks its own citizens like that, they'll have a hell of a time defending that position to the rest of the world. Humanity is usually slow on the uptake but eventually settles on "how about you just go fuck yourself" even if the party takes a sec to get going.

Who knows. I think it's better to err on the side of optimism despite the grim outlook.

That has already happened. The entire industrialized world is feudal. Young workers who are experts in their fields working full time can't afford a simple home. Young business owners who employ several people full time can't afford a simple home.

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