[cman1444]

Because for many people who pursue these fundamental truths, the reward is not necessarily personal fame, fortune, or even personal understanding. Advancing humanity's total knowledge (even if that knowledge is by proxy through AI) is reward enough.

[mathgradthrow]

I think when your work is no longer required, you will probably come to regret this sentiment, not that it matters.

[fartfeatures]

I think by that point humanity will having some pretty fundamental discussions about the nature of work and money.

[doctorwho42]

At that point, if AI can do 75-99% of what you do... Why should anyone pay you to live/survive?

Humanity is having those discussions, heck you are in one RIGHT NOW not some Hollywood future.

What is coming of those discussions is the ownership class balks at the idea of raising their taxes (see recent interview with bezos), and therefore balks at the idea that you or I should have any value beyond what we produce... And if AI can replace you or I, well how do we survive if we can't produce in a technological society?

[salawat]

I think you are blinded by an unprecedented optimism the rest of us simply cannot afford to entertain.

[Enginerrrd]

Go ahead and have that conversation with the billionaires running a worldwide satellite grid of data centers to power their AI surveillance dragnet and autonomous robot soldiers. See how far it’ll get you.

[necovek]

If they don't have millions/billions of customers to spend koney on whatever they are selling, their riches become irrelevant too.

Money is valuable only as it changes hands for goods/services, and if you want to get rich, on top of having/producing/controlling something everybody desires, you also need as many people as possible to have money to give you in exchange for a piece of that something.

[skew-aberration]

With AI + robots all you really need is the starting capital + land (minerals, energy, etc). The value of land will not decrease when human labor becomes obsolete.

[umanwizard]

No, they only need as many people as are required to produce the goods and services they consume.

[antonvs]

There's an unstated assumption there, which is that you'll have some reason to continue to want your work to be required.

In the (probably unlikely) event that AI use results in a post-scarcity economy in which there's no need to work to survive, a lot of people wouldn't regret sentiments like the ones in question.

On the contrary, it would mean they could work on whatever they please, including potentially standing on the shoulders of giants - the AIs - and seeing even further.

If we actually worked to create a society that work for the benefit of all its members, there would be a lot less reason to worry about developments like these. Much of the worry arises because for various reasons - none of them really good ones - we've ceded control of these developments to the people least suited to manage it.

[doctorwho42]

And how do you see us getting from what we currently have: a working class and capital/ownership class, where a vast majority of society is required to work 40+ hrs/week to sustain their ability to live.

To a society that provides a livelihood to all humans, equally?

For, I would love to hear how we get from here to there during an era with the largest wealth disparity ever seen in human history. (Yes, it's worse than the robber Baron era of US history). For I have yet to see any signs that the capital/ownership class has any intentions other than vacuuming up even more wealth and power for themselves. And that anathema to your desired outcome.

[antonvs]

Part of my point is that this helplessness about the expected outcome is a choice. If everyone is sitting back waiting for "signs", nothing will change for the better.

History is full of examples of situations like this being corrected, at least to an extent. If we learn from those, we can do even better next time around.

Btw, the inequality you mention is far worse in the US than Europe. Here's one source that covers this: https://wid.world/es/news-article/why-is-europe-more-equal-t...

This demonstrates a point that should be obvious, that better societal choices can produce better outcomes.

[ninjagoo]

> I think when your work is no longer required

i wonder if this is physically/mathematically impossible: the mere act of living involves processing energy, and therefore doing work :)

And there is a lot of energy to be processed in this Universe before the heat death...

[doctorwho42]

If you can reach it... The universe is expanding, and matter is being dispersed by both that and other forces.

Mind you, there are places in the universe that we have no way of knowing ever existed... The non-obserable universe if you will. For when physicists talk of the observable universe, it is only the fraction we have any chance of receiving data/light/radiation of/from

[seanmcdirmid]

Scientists think differently from craftspeople. They want to know the unknown, using any tool they can get their hands on.

[wartywhoa23]

> using any tool

This "any" shines like a thermonuclear fireball.