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by jstummbillig 19 days ago
> So, where does next token prediction leave us? In a perpetual loop of rent-seeking for something made with humanity’s collective output of centuries. It is not a good place for an individual to be in, regardless of class.

In what way is this different to electricity?

2 comments

The question is what classes of jobs will replace the ones made obsolete by a particular innovation, and how many vacancies there will be. With electricity we had managerial, creative, high dexterity, etc. jobs. If a sufficient amount of human capabilities are replaced then that may be different to electricity. Also it's about how many top-tier "power plants" (AI, robotics) there are, who owns them, and once "everything is solved" (which it isn't yet) how much of that will trickle down to everyone else's life quality.
In what way is it similar?
So, where does electricity leave us? In a perpetual loop of rent-seeking for something made with humanity’s collective output of centuries. It is not a good place for an individual to be in, regardless of class.
What? People made electricity manually for centuries, collectively? And who were the electricity rent-seekers? Electricity has almost always been a public service.
People also don't make data centers, GPU, or do AI research collectively. The part that is made, collectively, are the layers of knowledge required to provide either.

> Electricity has almost always been a public service.

I have no clue where that would be true, if anywhere. Not where I live. I am paying a private company, and the electricity that they are selling me is generated by other private companies.