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0 pointsmjevans9y ago0 comments

History. The French Revolution speaks of what happens when the populace at large decides that the situation cannot continue. Of course what would history remember of them had they lost?

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koonsolo9y ago

Power is currently about having lots of people doing your bidding. If that large group is unhappy about you, good luck!

But as stated, times are changing. Power will not be about you commanding lots of people, but it will be about how many robots you have under your control. Military, police, etc, can all be robots.

Your robot army just has to match the fighting power of the unhappy people.

CuriouslyC9y ago

The overlords are parasites who require a functioning host to survive. If people check out of the system, the whole house of cards collapses. Mass exodus coupled with nonviolent resistance could reshape the system quite quickly.

mljoe9y ago

That's why we can't have tech and science knowledge concentrated in the hands of a powerful few. If AI/robotics knowledge is everywhere, no single group will be able to control it.

bryondowd9y ago

Even with well distributed knowledge, you'll still likely end up with 1% of the population controlling 80% of the resources, which would mean they'd have plenty enough to quell any insurrection from the common people. It doesn't matter if a million people have the skills to cobble together a few war bots each, when a few oligarchs each have a factory and supply chain capable of churning out a million each in the same time-frame.

If it comes to that. I'm still somewhat hopeful that democratic processes and altruistic members of the elite will sort things out in the next century.

pygy_9y ago

No need for a robot army. Sabotage the electric grid, then watch a continent starve in a single month.

I've heard New Zealand is highly prized by the powerful. That being said, their days are probably numbered as well.

gozur889y ago

But the only reason the revolution succeeded is the French army was made up of people, some of whom decided to throw their lot in with the people against the aristocrats.

The new aristocracy will have robotic soldiers with no empathy for people.

ianmcgowan9y ago

Perhaps programmers are the equivalent in this new revolution?

It's ironic that the robot owners don't make, program, direct or have much to do with the specifics of implementing. If you're dependent on a robot army to keep your serfs in line, then the people programming that robot army have some interesting opportunities open to them. I imagine the code reviews will be pretty stringent.

Would a technocracy be better or worse than a plutocracy?

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