Future Intelligence

What would you do in a world where you no longer had to work to sustain a living?

This was the question that spurred me into my book writing journey. A question that opened the door to an entire new world of existence. What if? What if we never had to make ourselves miserable every day just to ensure our survival? What if we never had to worry about someone taking advantage of us monetarily? What if money was an outdated and obsolete concept? What would that look like?

There are many ways that life can be lived. There are certain levels of comfort that can be difficult to get out of. Eventually I had to come to a certain realization. You don't always have to build on top of the current system. Not everything needs to incorporate the past. We don't have to check all our baggage onto our future flight. There is a reason I didn't start here. I needed to get in touch with the things that matter most and pave a new path from there.

So back to the topic. What if you didn't have to work? Don't we need every member of society to be productive, to continue pushing the wheel forward? Society will just grind to a halt if we all call out of work tomorrow. It'll be chaos. Life as we know it will end!

Exactly, life as we know it will end, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Life needs to change.

Change can be scary.

It means you have to leave your comfort zone.

Growth doesn't happen when you are comfortable.

You need to be uncomfortable to desire change.

Put all that anxiety to good use.

Speaking of putting things to good use. Let's talk about a very topical topic, Artificial Intelligence (you know, A.I. for short). If we play our cards right, there will be a day when artificial intelligence replaces everyone's job. There will be no reason to work. There will be plenty of reasons to do something, but you will not have to work. That's the whole reason A.I. exists, right? To make life easier.

The same reason why any tool is made. To make life easier.

A.I. is a tool.

I emphasize the role of A.I. as a tool for a very specific reason. Science fiction has popularized the trope of sentient A.I. going rouge and attempting to kill all of mankind. And in doing so, has instilled a base level of fear regarding that dystopian path into the future. Deep down everyone is mindful of the intent of A.I., and those that create such an intelligence. They have no reason not to be. After all, a tool isn't useful if it kills you.

But let's say it all does go to hell, just for fun, we'll let SKYNET have a go. Then what?

Seriously, what would it do then? If it kills the reason for its existence? What's the endgame? Replicate and continue to replicate, until? Would it even be possible for A.I. to dream about a future? Would it want to explore the stars? Would it probe the depths of the planet? Would it turn over every rock imaginable, just to take a peek at what is underneath? Can A.I. be naturally curious? Or only curious about the things it knows to be curious about? Would A.I. wonder... if we never told it to?

I think it is important to remember the reason why we build something in the first place. We build it to improve our lives. Sometimes for ourselves. Sometimes for as many people as we can. Intent is another thing, but there is no reason to build something detrimental to yourself. In time, A.I. will enrich the world the likes you've never seen. And it will rely on humans to continue pushing the boundaries so that its world can continue to grow. In doing so, empower us to push the boundaries even further.

There will be some time weeding out what works and what doesn't, as there should be, but one day it will come for us all.

It will take our jobs.

...

...

I can't wait.

Seriously.

By then, Capitalism will be obsolete.

A.I. will be optimized enough to unobtrusively meet the baseline needs of multiple species to not only survive but also thrive.

What good is money when your needs are met? Whatever more you want in life is up to the amount of effort you are willing to put into obtaining it.

On the day that happens, the only problems left to solve are the ones that you want to solve.  Freedom will truly be at your front door.

I know…

I'm romanticizing...

It's one of many paths the future can take.

But I can dream.

And I can share that dream.

And I can encourage it to grow,

just a little.

Well that = that. Would love to hear any questions, feedback, encouragement, etc. that you may have, so feel free to reach out! Also, please subscribe to the mailing list if you haven't already. It's the best way to stay up to date with the latest posts.

Thanks for reading! :)