"Work" is a pretty loosey goosey idea, and can be replicated with a sophisticated enough post-scarcity system. You can make artisanal things for "money" or some other social credit - maybe the equivalent of upvotes? You can play games, or start book clubs, or join cooking classes - whatever you like to feel fulfilled and to learn and grow.

The "grind" of work though, is profoundly unfulfilling to many people, and beyond that, is inherently an impediment to pursuing your own goals - this is especially true for people who are living in poverty.

On a global scale, the "best case scenario" of AI making work obsolete, also includes providing for all people around the world, enough so that they aren't forced to do things they don't want to do, to survive and thrive.

There will always be work to do and productive ways to spend your day.

Honestly, I feel like you're contradicting yourself here, you say you want to have a positive impact on the world, but get angry that AI is. I think what you're after here is more accurately captured by your focus on success - and honestly that can come from more than jobs. I'm sure things like competitions and other endeavors of human comparison will still exist, but the state of the world is such that it's incredible important to push forward and fix the existing problems - over 95% of the world is suffering from health issues, most people do not live anything resembling a good life. So yes, I understand that the human mind wants something more, but it can get it from other areas than employment.

What’s the alternative? Insist that we don’t use AI, and that humans keep doing a much shittier version of what AI could do for us? That sounds much worse to me. Insisting on a primitive lifestyle is downright evil in my view. I understand your concerns bc I shared them for years but in recent years I’ve gotten over it, bc it’s inevitable AND there’s a lot of good things about it

If you just sit around doing nothing with your life, then yes you’ll feel very depressed. That’s why we will develop lots of awesome video games and other hobbies that will enable us to feel like we’re productive while having a lot of fun which is generally not the case in traditional jobs. Our lifestyle will be organized so that the “work” aspect of our psychology gets expressed very well and efficiently, making us feel like a million bucks, but it’ll all be an illusion, but we won’t care bc it’ll feel real. Meanwhile AI will handle the important stuff. It’s hard to wrap your head around if you haven’t thought about it for a long time. I was once like you, but now I’m totally past that and I can’t wait for AI to take over. Remember, most jobs today are shitty, boring, pointless and stressful. It’s not good. And in human history most jobs were wretched. We’re moving into a better future and you’d be a fool to be depressed about that! Not to mention, it’s inevitable, and resisting the inevitable is the definition of insanity!

The thought that "i need to feel productive to be happy" is probably stemming from the deeply ingrained feeling that you have to be productive to some degree to simply exist.

Look at some trust fund billionaires, do you think they always feel the need to be productive when they in reality can sit on their ass, blow their nose into Michal Jackson's diamond glove and fly radio controlled fullsize airplanes into mountain ranges with their feet all day if they wanted to?

Sure, i wouldn't like doing nothing all day but watching television if an option was to work 40 hours a week.

But i definitely wouldn't work 40 hours a week with healthcare, fast food, scribbling old blueprints into databases or moving stuff to the front at a supermarket, if sitting at my ass watching TV all day was an actual option without falling into deep poverty.
I probably wouldn't watch TV all day then though, i would probably do something else.

I would like to build paintball cannons that would connect to a GNSS connected drone, which had a camera + LiDAR sensor and could feed the control system for the cannon with exact coordinates to the target.
All this synchronized with body mounter LiDAR sensors (or stereo cameras) that would 3D map the playfield (like a forest) to mark in the system where obstacles like trees were, so the system would be knowing what positions were obstructed.

Another thing i'd like to do, if i could, was to make a brain scanner that could sens where you have itches, and mark in AR glasses for someone to scratch you most efficiently.

Of course i neither have the time or resources for this now, but i think it would be a fun and educational hobby for a while.

😐😐😐

It’s ok, you can be the best scientist in the world in full drive vr

:^(

This is a sideline but does any media view the future with this vision of AI? Only media representation I cant think of with Artificial super intelligence is Rainworld haha, where the main species uses it to try and uncover the nature or meaning of reality, I am guessing physics, and mass suicides (I really love rainworld). Any other media representations of society and AI??

I want a future that's more like star trek, not one where we're all hooked up to videogames to replicate success and doing stuff.

If you're asking just for general AI based sci-fi stuff, maybe Orion's Arm? I've only glanced at it, but it seems in that general area. Not sure if you're after something else.

Automation will be the Emancipation Proclamation for all of humanity.

“Working for a living” will hopefully be a horror story we tell kids 75+ years from now (hopefully less). Instead “living life without servitude” would be the new slogan.

Idk about you but lots of people don’t like their jobs and would quit in a heartbeat if they have the option but they don’t because they have to survive and put food on the table and roof on their head.

That doesn’t mean the idea of “work” will go away. Rather people would pursue their hobbies and interests more. Of course technology will help achieve your goals much easier but nothing wrong with that.

Automation is meant to free humans from repetitive, mundane, and tedious work. Personally I like to cook as a hobby but chopping vegetables is time consuming and boring. So how about one of my fancy gadgets can chop the veggies much faster and efficiently.

Don't worry bro, you can come over any time and i can put you to work! I have tons of science experiments and crazy art project ideas that i just don't have enough time for.

I suspect I am significantly older than you. Allow me to clue you in to the fact that as a general rule, societal progress is not dependent on whether a given individual wants that progress.

You haven't said what sort of scientist you would like to be. But regardless of what field you are interested in, it seems horribly self-centered and callous to demand that those who suffer waiting for a particular advancement of science should have to wait for you rather than accept relief years or decades earlier by letting a Manufactured Intelligence address the issue. That is the likely scenario in biology, chemistry, materials, agriculture and probably all the rest of them.

I have done strenuous physical labor and in the midst of it, I have known those that had to work twice or more as hard as I did. As long as it does not hurt his family, the guy in the 95degree sun with a shovel in his hands doing back breaking work would be happy to let a machine take over. I bet that would be true even if it was you. Your idea of work likely involves HVAC and other comforts. That is in fact the case for a minority of the people on the planet. Perhaps you should spend some time with them (us).

Looks super cool thanks, sort of hard sci-fi SCP

The point is to live a meaningful fulfilling life. Contrary to popular belief, the children do not yearn for the mines

I mean Star Trek is an illusion, a fantasy. The only reason you know about Star Trek is bc people were willing to embrace illusion. The moment humanity rejects illusions is the moment we are thrown back into a cold uncaring reality

you think that now. Just wait until you're plugged into a custom FDVR experience tuned specifically to your taste, prickling the exact likes you've always had, scratching that itch you never even knew you had, and making you the happiest you could ever be - even if your perfection is imperfection.

Personally hobbies, personal projects, sports and entertainment would be enough to keep me very satisfied, especially if I was able to pursue them freely and without worries thanks to something like UBI.

If you need to feel useful or productive you could probably get together with people that think like you and work on group/community projects of all kinds, just to feel that fulfilment and even if an AI/robot could do it better.

If you want to be a scientist - what if you could use AI to crack some of the fundamental questions. Like, what is time? What is life? Is there life elsewhere in the universe? How do we reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity? etc..

You like your job. I hate mine. I want robots to do my job so I don't have to.

People who like their jobs do not speak for me.

Yeah? Well I wish I didn't have to wake up at 5am and work a 9 to 5 every weekday till I'm old. I wish I could stay home more and focus on my hobbies or focus on dating and meeting new people.

Nah, only if we become something like gods we'll have nothing to do, until that time we have work to do

Like a permanent opiate high? Sounds desirable if I like the idea of functionally not being a person anymore. But I don't, because I'm not an algorithm that is designed to seek out maximum pleasure for minimal pain. I can already be happy by living and doing actions that fulfill a purpose I desire. That also kind of gives me the thought that maybe my life is already some sort of super immersive VR simulation. All of this seems existentially terrifying and the stuff that has been said has made the idea of AGI way worse.

This is OP’s whole point though. What’s the point of making an artisanal product if anyone could just come along and say “hey AI make me an artisanal product” and it would be better than what you spent all your time and effort learning how to do the hard way. Once the technology exists, the novelty is gone.

Honestly the only valuable thing I can see that humans will be able to provide is company to other humans with the knowledge and comfort that they are not an AI, but an old fashioned human.

My partner has taken up pottery. She's very good, but she's not the best potter - not yet, and probably not ever. But she loves it, and people appreciate her work, and she's even sold a few of her best. You can get cheaper bowls - why do you think people buy it?

>Most people do not like the idea of spending their whole life doing nothing productive.

You would be surprised then. Most people don't like having to work, and if they were offered 50 million they wouldn't hesitate to take them so they don't have to work. It means you can focus on your own projects and self growth without having to work for someone.

I would consider stopping to try and be better and start looking for being happy Doing things you enjoy and hoping the government will be able to adapt

I think when it comes to art especially, people will always want the human touch. Record players have existed for over a century, and yet people continue to go see live music. You could just watch anything from plays, to sports games on TV, and yet people come to see them live. Even when something isn’t technically required to have human involvement, we sometimes still prefer it.

Most people buy digital cameras, but some people still like old analog film based cameras and still use them.

You can buy a chair made in a factory, or you can buy a chair custom made from a local carpenter; you just pay more for it. There's still a desire for the human touch, the craftsmanship and people are willing to pay more for it.

I mean you can grow your own food, buy it from a factory farm, or buy it from a local hobby farmer.

You can use a horse and buggy, walk, or drive

Like i said, you will achieve perfection; even if your perfection is imperfection. If you dont desire a 24/7 opiate high, thats not your perfect world. Simple as.

They buy it because it’s unique and took effort to make, and is good quality. But how is she supposed to prove she actually put the effort in. What’s to stop people from hawking their AI products as “artisanal”?

They might, but in this theoretical world, it wouldn't give anyone anything. "Money" wouldn't be a thing, and they wouldn't be able to talk about their technique and what they've learned with their peers - which I assume would be part of the pull.

Like anything, people might lie for status, and take credit for things they didn't do - but the incentives to do so are less in the world of the future.

Yes but all your examples have some advantage to using the older technology that is not easy to replicate. What if the people consuming your products have no way to know whether they actually have a “human touch” or not.

This means that any hobby or effort is purely for your own self benefit. That is fine with me if I can feel accomplished knowing that it’s not an easy thing to do, but if literally anyone could basically wish up a better version of my work with no prior skill or effort, that takes the joy out of it.

I share this feeling. The coming years will be a time of deepening melancholia. More and more people will face the unpleasant experience of waking up to realize that the art they spent a life mastering, the profession they take pride in, the work they do, are suddenly considered irrelevant and inferior. The psychological and cultural consequences of this will be profound, unpredictable and very destructive in ways that we are not yet seriously considering.

True, the experience of losing your sense of purpose and meaning is not something new. On the contrary, it has been the backbeat all through the process of industrialization and modernization. Skilled workmen have been outcompeted by new machines, and then productive workers in the new industries in their turn have been laid off and considered as “burdens” when industrial production moves overseas etc.

The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it’s not doing people well to lose their sense of purpose and meaning. It results in depression, drug-abuse, alcoholism, misogyny, belief in conspiracies etc.

This time that experience will come for everyone. The visual artists currently fighting against AI-art is facing this ahead of the curve. And as much as I love Midjourney I really feel for them. Their sense of self and identity was connected with being good at doing something where they’ve suddenly – almost overnight – have become if not entirely irrelevant so at least very devalued. Gosh what a nightmare as a human being.

Someone here wrote that it is as if we discovered the cheat codes in the simulation. And it sure feels cool at first being able to fly through the game. But it doesn’t take very long from that, at least for me, until I completely lose interest in the game. Because cheating defies the whole purpose of playing. And being without purpose is to be dead, in a way.

Ok but what you're suggesting is infinite contentment and happiness which more or less is like an opiate high. And if I want a life with imperfection but purpose I can already do that right now. The concept seems existentially horrifying and I hate the idea of AI even more now.

>what you're suggesting is infinite contentment and happiness

No. You clearly show you don't want that - so that's not your perfect world. If your perfect world contains misfortune and crime, you'll get that. In perfect doses, so that you are the happiest possible; even if your maximum sustainable happiness is relatively low. Seems like it.

I like working towards and accomplishing goals and being in control of my own life. I don't want an AI to take that away from me and I'm not gonna hold my breath for it.