The Rise Of Machines And The Decline Of Man

We've built a monster. And the monster is positioning itself to replace every single one of us. Right now, CEOs in all major and minor corporations throughout all industries are consulting with providers of AI solutions on how to reduce their human workforce, how to train the machines to do what billions of human workers have been doing to earn a living up until the present day.

Every form of employment is under scrutiny. No stone will be left unturned in the quest to automate as many types of work as possible. The logic behind this push has reached a point where the traditional naysayers, doubters and neo-luddites are practically being pushed aside and buried under a mountain of New World propaganda that screams "There is no alternative. If anything is going to survive the coming crash, it's the Elect and their subservient machine army. Please quietly prepare to become extinct. It was a tough call (not really) and no hard feelings, we're simply better than you, this was the plan all along, and the time has come to move on to greater things."

Trapped in dreams

Eugenics is a powerful drug. And some people have been chugging it down like there's no tomorrow. Which is ironic because these very same people believe they own tomorrow. The LSD micro-dosing, Silicon Valley, Paypal Mafia, tech-bro crowd have taken on a clownish, cult-like aura that replaces the niche, 'autistic' personas that preceded them—Kurzweil, Goertzel, Yudkowsky, Tegmark, de Grey, Warwick, Bostrom, and many other prominent Singularitarians. What happened to them? I barely hear mention of them now even though transhumanism, genetic modification, nanotech, robotics, drones and AI have become the talk of the town—at least, that is, when people take a break from the Epstein files fiasco and other hot topics that compete for mass mindspace in the current tsunami of overwhelm.

To recap, eugenics became transhumanism, and transhumanism became Humanity+, movements that, combined with the evolving drive to automate every process in the economy and control every activity known to man using autonomous computerized systems, looked to remake humanity in the image of the 'autistic' planners. From the perspective of these 'efficiency' and 'improvement' obsessed 'dreamers', the natural world and everything in it is imperfect and requires 'tweaking' and 'upgrading.'

And while no one in particular has an issue with the application of reading glasses, pace makers, hip replacements, cars and washing machines to enhance humans and the world we live in, resistance starts to materialize when smartphones, wearable tech, self-driving vehicles, and AI reach levels of adoption that undeniably reveal their true purpose, the intentions that were embedded in this government-agency-funded technology all along—surveillance, influence and control.

One could say the same about personal transportation. It may have been made accessible to the masses because it made it easier for workers to commute from the suburbs to their middle class labor jobs in the city while also allowing for increased tourism and the general profiteering of oil companies. Yet, no one really complains about personal technology upgrades such as private car ownership. Users tend to only see the benefits and have come to accept cars as an important display of wealth and societal prestige. Hence the investment in luxury vehicles where simpler functional vehicles would suffice.

This display of wealth is tied to both employment and self-esteem. Hard work pays off and a bigger house, nicer car, better vacations are the preferred chosen rewards for performing the role of a 'good citizen'—an efficient cog in the machine.

The thing is, the managers of the machine have upgraded their central utility function and are now looking to replace the existing cogs with even more efficient versions; versions that don't answer back, constantly ask for more pay, more benefits, more time off. And it looks like the managers might actually be able to pull this off. The new machinery is looking very capable in the latest stages of its development. This development has being going on for the last hundred years. The naysayers and doubters are not quite as loud as they used to be. The tech PHD world are impressed with usage of AI in scientific research even as other research cases are pulled for dubious reasons.

Beyond LLMs

We are starting to see how specialized variants of so-called AI (not necessarily derived from LLMs but from entirely new products made from scratch that leverage the useful aspects of LLMs) will coalesce into formidable tools that, in capable hands and minds, could wipe out entire sectors of the worker economy.

The current problems that arise when LLMs are applied to the workplace are as follows...

Every CEO, whether they make computer chips or potato chips, has announced an AI strategy, and markets are anticipating profit improvements across the board as a result of AI. At the same time, enterprise deployment of LLM-based applications remains nascent. LLMs have plenty of shortcomings, including hallucinations, bias, and data exfiltration. There are also a host of adoption challenges, including the fact that most company data needs significant preprocessing before it can be used by a model, and use cases that worked in demos quickly break down when scaled up to production.

As founders begin to deploy LLM-based applications at scale, they should look to leverage three innovations:

1.. Multimodal models are moving beyond text, opening up new use cases. 

2.. Multi-agent systems transform our ability to automate complex tasks.

3.. New model architectures address the limitations of transformers.

https://foundationcapital.com/beyond-llms-building-magic/

As usual, you end up with two camps...

• the tech bros and the super-efficiency algorithm they are offloading onto the world which includes everyone that will simply go along to get along in that scenario (acceptance of CBDCs, biometric ID, addiction to AI assistants etc)
• the 'luddites' that refuse to accept the AI/robot takeover of the workplace and do everything they can to derail it, slow it down, evade it, branch off from it

The no job economy

Lets see, how does that old song go again...

"no jobs, no workforce, no consumers"

Ask any economist and you'll get the same reply. And yet, the Singularitarians were singing a different tune that promised radical abundance (Peter Diamandis) in the face of mass unemployment due to 'unstoppable' advances in technology. The persistent mantra sung by the high priests of 'progress' was that the losers in this game of musical chairs would be recipients of a Universal Basic Income. However, when one looks closely at the numbers, it's extremely difficult to take this proposition seriously. Just look at the state of the world today. Rising mass unemployment among the younger generation, not only in Europe or the US, but also in China. The idea that worldwide handouts, basically putting billions of healthy young and middle-aged people out to pasture, will hold everything in place while the 'new machinery' carries the labor burden is beyond fantasy. No amount of Soma and digital entertainment will contain the restlessness that builds up in the useless eater open reservations. I don't know, maybe I'm misjudging the human stress response. Maybe that candle went out during Operation COVID. It could be that people will go along to get along every time the hammer comes down from now on. No fight left in them. Nothing left to fight for.

For now, the general public are attempting to, as best they can, place some bets on the incoming tsunami of change...

According to the poll, conducted between August and October 2024, U.S. adults underestimate the impacts of AI on jobs for lawyers and truck drivers. By contrast, the U.S. public was more likely than experts to think medical doctors, teachers and musicians are at risk of AI-related job cuts over the next 20 years - although half of U.S. adults and experts say there will be job loss in each of these areas. A majority in both groups thought that AI will lead to fewer jobs for cashiers and journalists.

And, of course, the regulation monster begins to surface from the deep, rearing its ugly head ready to strike...

The survey also found that while AI experts tend to be more positive than the public about the potential of AI, a majority in both groups were concerned that government regulation of AI will not go far enough.

https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/ai-are-americans-worrying-about-wrong-jobs

At least the robots are swapping out their own batteries now...

We'll get into the discussion on over-complexity in another post. It's an interesting one which I think a bunch of people have completely wrong. Hint: Nature is incredibly complex, multilayered and resilient. We should start there.

The elephant in the room

As always, we need to delve a little deeper to understand what's really going on. Is this a tech revolution that will take humanity and machines to new heights? Why then are we being told that an energy transition is taking place just as countries downsize, limit production, and shut down entire industry support sectors while governments and supranational institutions gaslight us into 'living with less,' 'reducing our carbon footprint,' and generally preparing to be served by machines and the machine economy however that is supposed to work?

Simultaneously, we can see the reports that AI data farms are going to suck up all the remaining energy and resources outpacing any comparable economic growth spurt in the history of tech. What gives?

Behind the facade

The true story behind all of this activity is the shrinking ability of diesel and other fossil fuel products to power the global economy. The viable replacements haven't arrived yet and the current methodology that relies on 'renewables' is looking shaky. What actually makes some sense in this equation is that personal vehicle and gasoline usage should go down due to massive worker layoffs. Even so, it is still not clear that the overall shift to electric powertrains under the current energy transition mandates will be successful because the entire economy will become unsustainable due to supply chain collapse and the inability of the general unemployed population to afford the output of industry.

As a result of these shifting values, a total restructuring of society may be beyond reach. When change happens too swiftly people and systems lack sufficient time to adapt. Most people would be forced to drop out of the current system unable to keep up with the rate of change. The idea that these millions, or potentially billions, of unemployed people will be put out to pasture with a Universal Basic Income is quite frankly, as I already pointed out, delusional. The Decision Makers would more than likely find a way to rapidly reduce the number of 'useless eaters' to ensure that vital resources are not wasted on simply keeping these people alive for a little while longer.

That's how an uber-efficient, tranhumanist, eugenicist is thinking about this 'predicament.' In their minds, all resources should now be redirected to the creation and expansion of the One Machine. Only the most relevant human technicians are required to fulfill this endeavor under the ongoing management of the Elite Master Farmers. Instead of billions of human workers producing goods for other humans, the game is shifting to the creation of intelligent machine agents that push the boundaries of exploration thereby taking the Elite Master Farmers and a select cadre of technicians to the next level.

Put yourself in the shoes of the wealthiest families and corporations on the planet. What would you do and what lengths would you go to when faced with the current dilemma? How would you move forward when your most trusted academics, financial advisors, systems thinkers, futurists, mystics and soothsayers tell you that we've reached a point where the entire edifice is creaking under the weight of unsustainable resource extraction and system over-complexity? How would you react to suggestions that we can't continue to produce industrial products for billions of people that expect a high standard of living?

This is where even the most benevolent Elite Master Farmer will consider the need to prune the tree, to cull the herd, for the greater good, so that they can live to farm another day.

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