Some people think that, with a super-powerful AI running the world, there would be no need for traditional government. The AI can simply make all the important decisions to optimize human welfare.
This is similar to the Marxist idea of the “withering away of the state”. Once perfect Communism has been achieved, there will be no more need for government.
In practice, Stalinism didn’t really wither away. It was more like, Stalin gained personal control over this new organization, the Communist Party, to reinforce his own dictatorship and bend the nation to his will.
If we have transformational superhuman AI, the risk of war seems quite high. But an AI powerful enough to turn the whole world into paper clips could win a war immediately, without bloodshed. Or with lots of bloodshed, if that’s what it wanted.
One possible outcome of superhuman AI is a global dictatorship. Whoever controls the superhuman AI controls the world, right? The CEO of the AI company that wins the race aligns the AI to themselves and makes themselves into an immortal god-king. At first they are benevolent. Over time it becomes impossible for the god-king to retain their humanity, as they become less and less like any normal human. The sun sets on the humanist era.
But this is turning into a science fiction story. In practice a “superhuman AI” probably won’t be all-powerful like this, there will be many details of what it can and can’t do that I can’t predict. Or maybe the state will just wither away!
Some people think that, with a super-powerful AI running the world, there would be no need for traditional government. The AI can simply make all the important decisions to optimize human welfare.
This is similar to the Marxist idea of the “withering away of the state”. Once perfect Communism has been achieved, there will be no more need for government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withering_away_of_the_state
In practice, Stalinism didn’t really wither away. It was more like, Stalin gained personal control over this new organization, the Communist Party, to reinforce his own dictatorship and bend the nation to his will.
If we have transformational superhuman AI, the risk of war seems quite high. But an AI powerful enough to turn the whole world into paper clips could win a war immediately, without bloodshed. Or with lots of bloodshed, if that’s what it wanted.
One possible outcome of superhuman AI is a global dictatorship. Whoever controls the superhuman AI controls the world, right? The CEO of the AI company that wins the race aligns the AI to themselves and makes themselves into an immortal god-king. At first they are benevolent. Over time it becomes impossible for the god-king to retain their humanity, as they become less and less like any normal human. The sun sets on the humanist era.
But this is turning into a science fiction story. In practice a “superhuman AI” probably won’t be all-powerful like this, there will be many details of what it can and can’t do that I can’t predict. Or maybe the state will just wither away!