If AI keeps evolving,would you worry about your next generation's survival

Imagine this. Twenty years from now, if AI is capable of handling all work, how will your kids make ends meet? If you want to prevent that future, what should you be doing today?

14 points | by hanstyle 4 hours ago

8 comments

  • euroderf 5 minutes ago
    It will be like Zardoz.
  • speedgoose 30 minutes ago
    I wouldn’t mind a society in which I don’t have to work to live happily and comfortably.
  • rahuljha0403 39 minutes ago
    Those who can do something about it, they won't do anything as it's a power/money game for them. Those who care about it, they can barely do anything.

    So, just prepare by saving money, investing and upskilling just to keep your brain sharp to figure it out when that future hits all of us.

  • riffraff 4 hours ago
    Mildly worried.

    But I think most of what is useful today to teach children (to be independent, persistent, empathetic, thoughtful, etc) will still be useful in whatever future we end up in. I think even skills that may be obsolete will probably be good for training their brain, like, perhaps speaking more languages won't help because we'll all have star-trek-like communicators, but the mental flexibility won't be wasted.

    I'm not sure what will happen with higher studies, my kids are small. Maybe they'll study something and by the end of university there won't be a job market for it. But that could always happen, and some paths always had more career opportunities or less.

    Beyond education, I try to save some money (invest in some global index fund) and hopefully that will help. I was always going to do that anyway, it just feels a bit more necessary now.

    • rahuljha0403 42 minutes ago
      Agree, even if AI does most of the things, we can't stop learning, otherwise our mind will become totally dependant on machines even for processing.
  • GreenLightGo 34 minutes ago
    The wealthy owners of tech companies and other businesses will keep maximizing profits, just as capitalism demands. I think my kids will be learning skilled trades instead. AI will never replace builders or electricians.
  • Lio 2 hours ago
    It’s just another “don’t look up” issue.

    We’ve known about global warming for years and ignored it. People know and still buy bigger cars every year.

    Pick up trucks are so huge now you can’t see the child you’re about to run over and they sell like hot cakes.

    In surveys truck owners say they only care about occupant safety. They know about the issue for pedestrians, they just don’t care.

    Same with shifting industrial production and jobs to China. We know these things are problems for the next generation. When it comes to purchases people don’t care.

    Why would AI be any different?

    • snthpy 56 minutes ago
      Yup, like the Easter Islanders, what were they thinking when they cut down the last tree?
  • dyauspitr 2 hours ago
    If everyone’s out of a job, the world will figure it out
    • notTooFarGone 2 hours ago
      Ah yea, everyone will suddenly see their socialist side and all will be well...
      • interstice 58 minutes ago
        Wouldn't it be ironic if AI is the best way to manage a socialist society and they start building it on their own.
      • dyauspitr 2 hours ago
        Maybe they will maybe they won’t but the solution definitely isn’t trying to block something inevitable and frankly exciting.
  • throw310822 1 hour ago
    a) it's not twenty years from now, it's much less than that.

    b) you cannot prevent that future, because the incentives are huge and enforcement is extremely hard, at all levels, from the superpowers to the individuals.

    c) besides, imagine a world where most jobs are still being done by paid humans, all knowing that their work could be done much better and cheaper by a machine. Basically a world where your daily labour isn't really necessary but just a proof-of-work to get a monthly salary. Isn't that awful? I would rather take a pay cut on my last salary and use my time in a different way.

    d) how will they make ends meet? Nobody knows. It might be a combination of everything being much cheaper and/or heavily subsidized, and some form of basic income.