How I Make Sense of Our Present and Future
The technology that makes AI possible is improving exponentially while the potency of AI expands rapidly. All the disruptive power of AI is held within the grasp of a few companies and super-rich individuals. Elon Musk is the richest and most disruptive tech-bro living.
The prosperity made possible using carbon-based dense energy (such as coal, oil, and gas) is destructive for the planet. All the gases expelled into Earth’s atmosphere have resulted in accelerated global warming to the point where we have crossed tipping points that will take us to a very hot global climate by 2050, or before. The effects of climate change will result in food scarcity because of agricultural failures while the loss of food and the higher temperatures will promote disease and death on a large scale among human populations. The time between now and 2050 will be very volatile with rapid collapse happening for some of our existing economic and political systems.
Political structures based on continuous-growth prosperity are not sustainable. Therefore, liberal democracy is no longer an option for governance because the underlying intention of liberalism is to bring (using dense energy) greater prosperity and rights to larger and larger populations.
Elon Musk and other plutocrats know that Eden on Earth is quickly dying. And what good is it to be the richest person alive if the planet you live on becomes an inhospitable place to eke out an existence?
A tech-bro puts faith in finding solutions using technology that will rapidly produce solutions and best practices for hanging on to a core of advanced technology run by an informed cadre of people so that the smart ones can shelter through the turmoil of climate disruptions until things stabilize in a new reality where humans of advanced intelligence (made possible by AI) can continue life on Earth in a palace of tokens.
How does one do such a thing? First, you must grab as much governing power as possible. Kudos to Elon. Second, you must be able to examine every source of intelligence and information that can be fed to AI systems to help with planning and decision making. Again, Elon will examine all things government in America to gather as much information as possible. Third, you must be able to manipulate foreign intelligence, domestic and foreign leaders, leverage military and government assets, and be able to convince a cabal of world leaders that cooperation in following the AI generated templates are the best way to keep some core of humanity viable on this planet. Being the richest man on Earth will help Elon with this little piece of the puzzle.
You also explore as many options as possible for as long as dense energy is available. For example, you explore the conundrums and treasures of a planet like Mars. You work to develop a token energy system that uses less oil and produces less CO2. You experiment with carbon capture and do lots of technology things to help cool the planet to delay disruptive consequences. You also work to promote targeted death and degrowth among undesirable human populations to reduce the demand for resource use. War or less energetic military operations will be used to accomplish population reduction.
If the AI generated plans are effective the result will be a unified global government run by AI assisted administrators. Money and power will become tokens. Life will be stable for an advanced humanity held to an overall population size that can be supported by an energy system that will work in harmony with natural systems.
Exploration will continue because challenges to the existence of humanity will forever pop up.
Another possible outcome is that no human effort by any one person or cabal of actors will be able to stop a return to a hardscrabble life on a hothouse Earth.
