Above, Madame Christophe Émé aka Ms Jeri Ryan, who famously played the character “Seven of Nine” in the Star Trek franchise.
In 1997, Doctor Kevin Warwick (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Warwick) published his book, the March of the Machines: Why the New Race of Robots Will Rule the World – the contents being described in the title.
By 2027 – three decades after Dr Warwick published is authoritative work – AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) might have arrived.
Yesterday the Metro newspaper (https://metro.co.uk/2024/03/25/star-trek-might-predicted-future-ai-20524482/) ran with a story about AI suggesting that the fictional “Borg” in the “Star Trek” franchise might come to pass in the future.
Of course, I don’t have to remind you Dear Reader that this blog has covered this topic twice before lastly back on 29th July 2017 (https://british-gazette.com/should-we-take-a-hive-minded-attitude-about-the-future/) and before then back in the autumn (fall) of 2010 (https://british-gazette.com/homo-sapiens-the-future/).
When the two BG posts were published I was of the opinion that an interpretation of “the Borg” might come to pass – read the 2010 post. I am still of the opinion that some form of merger between humankind and machine kind MIGHT take place but I now consider that such will likely be selective and voluntary and not part of a dystopian scenario. Why?
Because of the progress already being made with what are currently called “humanoid robots” – the “androids” of Sci-Fi. Given the staggering rate of progress of computer technology and the fact that Mr Musk is mentioning a figure of between US $20K – US $30K for his robots; if far more advanced creations can roll off the production lines (hopefully in locations other than China!) in vast numbers, the AGI will presumably come to the logical conclusion that such machines are far more economical, practical and less troublesome than Homo-Sapiens!
In yesterday’s blog-post (https://british-gazette.com/politically-correct-no-politically-particular/) I covered in a somewhat light-hearted vein the future of humanity in a world dominated by AGI and robots. The FACTS are these:
In a world where very few humans are employed in productive work, a Universal Basic Income will be essential to ensure that the economy will still function! I made satirical mention of the incentives and disincentives. These too will be essential as it will be necessary to ensure a cohesive and functioning human society to replace the traditional work with activities which will contain their own rewards and penalties.
In other words it will likely not be the “Universal Basic Income” dreamed of by the left wing Green Party (everybody paid the same) but will more likely take the form of a “Social Salary”. This “Social Salary” will be a little like the salary paid to many sales representatives – a basic salary plus commission on all sales within the salesman’s territory. There will be a “Universal Basic Income” paid to each human whilst they are alive and not in custody with a “Social Salary” paid for the voluntary activities engaged in by that human. These voluntary activities will take many forms and will be similar to many activities that retired persons do to replace the activity that employment once provided. Such activities would likely take place within organisations and it is likely that these organisations will have hierarchical and pyramidal structures similar to existing commercial corporate entities – and similar differences in the emoluments paid to those working at the differing levels!
The Victorians used to say: “The poor will be forever with us” – they were right. It is that the definition of poverty changes over time. I reckon that the corollary is also the case: “The rich will be forever with us!”