If AI is going to do that, AI needs to at least get good enough to autonomously produce all the chips and energy it needs to execute. That seems like a pretty far way off, considering we don't even have robots that can fold laundry competently.
If AI exists but there are still humans producing chips for it, I don't think you would be able to say that civilization has been destroyed
I’m reacting to this
> I also feel a need to amass retirement levels of wealth right ASAP before this all comes crashing down, and then move to somewhere else away from this mess.
and further context is the WSJ story from yesterday discussing the resignation of anthropic engineers and another anthropic engineer who says it will “kill us all by the end of the decade”.
Essentially I continually hear the perspectives of people who work at AI labs. They frequently brag about escaping the “permanent underclass” and often rationalize ideas like “well better they be the ones in poverty and not me”.
I'm not this extreme, and don't wish for others to be in poverty.
But I do wish for myself and my family to not be in poverty or suffering.
If the system is designed for these to be in conflict, that's not something I have the power to change, beyond voting for the less-shitty of 2 shitty choices on a ballot. At the end of the day I will prioritize myself and my family, and I think that's natural for 99% of people.
My personal take is almost all capitalist enterprises are on a path to cause destruction to civilization. AI is not unique here, and every industry is "AI or die" right now.
As for short term survival, I don't have the option to just quit in protest without income, nor do I think that will be effective in accomplishing anything. If anything I will just pigeon-hole myself into becoming a worse future-victim of the system than I already would be.
> have no skills that would help you after the collapse
That's not what I said. I only have 1 high-paying skill that can help me buy that optionality, and that's software engineering. I don't know of anything else high-paying that I could study quick enough, and other high-paying industries including lawyers and doctors are also predatory in different ways. I don't think the alternatives are better.
As for post-collapse skills, I think the ultimate is just being able to live off the land and move to somewhere that has the right climate and natural resources for that. Moving to another country isn't logistically straightforward, but money can help remove some of those hurdles, both in terms of residence permits and in terms of buying land and housing. So the priority is still financial. The learnings happen in parallel.
> Seems like a better use of your time
Not looking for advice on time management advice. I'm only trying to protect my family's future by building optionality. My individual decisions aren't going to change what the system is doing.