Much is being written these days about the dismay of mathematicians, several years into solving the great mathematical questions, who find that AI has solved 700 of them overnight, somehow. leaving them in the dust of their own great hopes.
Some of them had actually been using AI to solve them; others questioned how these proofs and solutions could possibly be anything but tainted or imperfect. Some said, "we're doomed," or finished, since the world obviously won't need high-level mathematicians anymore, if it can get AI to figure everything out.
At this point we always point out the dismay of people who thought the advent of the printing press would mean that people would no longer be able to memorize entire long stories, like The Odyssey; the advent of the calculator would mean that people would forget how to multiply, divide, add and subtract large sums. They're right; people have forgotten such things. And now they've forgotten how to find their way home or to the nearest McDonald's without a GPS.
The counterargument is that with people's minds freer to do what they want, they can learn new things or push new horizons. Maybe that's true, but this time I think we're over our heads.
We were in effect trusting these very smart people to tackle these huge mathematical questions that were, for the most part, over our heads to begin with (definitely over mine), but the fact that the machine is better than we are at even these now means, to some people, that the machine can outsmart us in just about anything. And it probably can, and that's scary. Some in the younger generations are finally saying, that's enough, we need limits here, we need to be able to control these machines. But if you loook around at a world that's almost half MAGA, do you really want these people controlling machines? We are a divided society now. WE can't decide what we would do with all that information.
For example, we now have the technology to ensure that every gun is being held by a permit holder, legally, and if not, is setting off alarms somewhere so that no school shooter can march right into his old school and shoot up all the unarmed children. But do we use that technology? No subject is more divisive than whether random people ought to be able to just buy and use any guns they want, so good luck trying to get humanity to agree on how to use AI fairly and equitably, peacefully and for the good of the masses.
Our next leaders are going to have to figure it out. That, and how to deal with genetic modification.
Monday, October 26, 2026
Sunday, March 8, 2026
AI adjustment - turbulence
A variety of steep and very sinister job reports has just come out. It appears that the government was deluding itself for several months and when they got things in order, the job situation actually looks really bad. It's somewhat obvious what's happening: AI is taking jobs. Nobody's doing anything about it. It'll only get worse. It's a major crisis for society.
It's ok when the jobless population rises a little; the economy adjusts. When it rises a lot, people complain hard and crime goes up. But when it rises too much it can cause a real crisis. If people can't get jobs what are they supposed to do? There is no safety net anymore; it can only be trouble.
It's a much higher class of people that are getting kicked out in the street this time around. Usually it's a trickle down and the poorer wretches get tossed into the street while the better dressed ones manage by just moving down a level to more doable, poorly-paying jobs. This could happen to some degree to the vast number of middle-managers, bean-counters, analysts, stock nerds, etc., whose jobs require thinking but not creative genius. AI's got their jobs, if not today, tomorrow. Society has to find something for them to do. Nobody is at the helm; nothing is being done.
A universal income is an obvious solution, but would be politically almost impossible, like guaranteed health care. Anything that sounds like socialism, people don't want anything to do with it. Yet the result therefore is that it's rugged individualism for the 80% who have no jobs and no hope of getting them, and government handouts for the ultra-wealthy who mostly want to just put their party in there and keep the tax cuts coming. very quickly we'll have a tinderbox here. It's not sustainable.
Our system doesn't ask, "what changes will this cause and how are we prepared for them?" It asks, "how can I integrate this into my business before the other guy, and make a lot of money?" That's because the system is US. Nobody's at the helm. Nobody has figured out what all these unemployed people are going to do.
I have a plan, actually. I don't want to sound overly dark and cynical and pessimistic even though that's the true me, I think it's big trouble. But here's my plan. Anyone who can ride a bicycle, who is young, has working knees, is in any kind of shape at all, can carry around a portable generator. You stop on a street corner, or even in the woods somewhere, and set it up, and start pedaling and creating power. It would not be too hard to make this machine but more important, to make it portable, durable, and legal. You're unemployed? Go create power so that people can charge their phone, stay warm, or watch the telly when the power's off. If the data centers are going to eat up all the power, what can we do? Make it more democratic, so that even the kids can make money. It doesn't matter if the power you generate from a single workout is only say a buck or two or change. That will be enough for legions of starving people and will be a living for lots of poor people who live from one meal to another. And when the power goes off, there you are.
It's ok when the jobless population rises a little; the economy adjusts. When it rises a lot, people complain hard and crime goes up. But when it rises too much it can cause a real crisis. If people can't get jobs what are they supposed to do? There is no safety net anymore; it can only be trouble.
It's a much higher class of people that are getting kicked out in the street this time around. Usually it's a trickle down and the poorer wretches get tossed into the street while the better dressed ones manage by just moving down a level to more doable, poorly-paying jobs. This could happen to some degree to the vast number of middle-managers, bean-counters, analysts, stock nerds, etc., whose jobs require thinking but not creative genius. AI's got their jobs, if not today, tomorrow. Society has to find something for them to do. Nobody is at the helm; nothing is being done.
A universal income is an obvious solution, but would be politically almost impossible, like guaranteed health care. Anything that sounds like socialism, people don't want anything to do with it. Yet the result therefore is that it's rugged individualism for the 80% who have no jobs and no hope of getting them, and government handouts for the ultra-wealthy who mostly want to just put their party in there and keep the tax cuts coming. very quickly we'll have a tinderbox here. It's not sustainable.
Our system doesn't ask, "what changes will this cause and how are we prepared for them?" It asks, "how can I integrate this into my business before the other guy, and make a lot of money?" That's because the system is US. Nobody's at the helm. Nobody has figured out what all these unemployed people are going to do.
I have a plan, actually. I don't want to sound overly dark and cynical and pessimistic even though that's the true me, I think it's big trouble. But here's my plan. Anyone who can ride a bicycle, who is young, has working knees, is in any kind of shape at all, can carry around a portable generator. You stop on a street corner, or even in the woods somewhere, and set it up, and start pedaling and creating power. It would not be too hard to make this machine but more important, to make it portable, durable, and legal. You're unemployed? Go create power so that people can charge their phone, stay warm, or watch the telly when the power's off. If the data centers are going to eat up all the power, what can we do? Make it more democratic, so that even the kids can make money. It doesn't matter if the power you generate from a single workout is only say a buck or two or change. That will be enough for legions of starving people and will be a living for lots of poor people who live from one meal to another. And when the power goes off, there you are.
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