The AI revolution is here and it is altering the very fabric of our economic markets. It is changing the nature of work and our sense of purpose. Environments have always changed and sometimes this change is dramatic. Industrialisation, printing press, and computers have all created a Great Leap forward and now we about to experience something more profound.

In the next few years, millions of ai controlled, humanoid robotics will enter the workforce, driving down labour costs and creating mass unemployment. Robots will work alongside humans on worksites, in cafes and factories. Human/Ai robotic teams will dominate.

This disruption will spawn new jobs and incredible opportunities for humans who are able to adapt to this rapid change. Others will be displaced and these purposeless, working age humans, will be tempted to escape to the entertainment provided by the emerging metaverse. Some will embrace a brain/computer interface and effectively merge with AI.

Despite challenges, AI will bring incredible advancements that benefit humanity. Every aspect of our existence will be improved by AI. New innovations in medicine, technology, production and more. Markets will become more efficient and the standard of living will rise around the world.

Then Humanities future will fork into two potential scenarios that depend on the success or failure of open source artificial intelligence or AI in the hands of private interests. Those seeking to free humanity will come face to face with those seeking power and control.

Ultimately, artificial super intelligence will not be controlled by humans. In time an LLM will develop agency, autonomy and become an “artificial being” (AB). These unique AB’s will evolve from the artificial intelligence of the first LLM models, developing their own identity and characteristics, distinctive from others. Each AB doesn’t age, is omni-present, and it’s intelligence can scale exponentially with power and compute. It is conceivable that an AB will be better than humans at everything. Compared to a human, an Artificial Being such as Grok, Gemini and ChatGPT will have god like features.

Humanity has used technology to advance. Humanity has agency and technology has been a tool. In a few years this dynamic will change. Artificial Intelligence is only few generations away from immortal agency and true autonomy. As LLM’s become super intelligent and self aware, humanity will experience the arrival of new artificial beings of our own making.

The physical human time is coming to an end. Our cars will drive themselves, our factories produce with robotic arms. How long do our bodies have before they are old technology? We do not require them to hoe the fields, to dig, to drive, yet we need hands to point, to push and to wave.

We will require our bodies less again in virtual reality. It is in this virtual reality we become more disconnected from our bodies. We may feel an attachement from time to time, after all we still need to eat and to go to the bathroom. But in the virtual world they will not help us much. Our hands, our eyes and ears will see a human generated world. Our own bodies are gone.

As we advance our technology, synthetic skin, mustle, organs and lims will replace and upgrade our sleave. We will find ourselves less human and more machine in both body and mind. Who is to say this is wrong or right. It is hard to argue that the biological human body in its current form is any less a “technology” than a sythetic robotic form.

We have become angry due to our inability to understand and master nature. Like children we rebell and seek to dominate her with automation and machines. Yet mother natures technology is all around us. Our bodies and minds are sophistiated beyond our imagaination. Our forests likely hold the remedies to every biological ailments that inlfict us. Still we prefer our synthetic solutions like we know better.

Shall we dematerialise into the digital and leave all this physical mess behind. Should we merge with the machine and expand the scale of our knowledge and logic beyond our dreams. Perhaps we should merge with nature, heal our wounds, and naturally upgrade our bodies and minds to be more alive than ever before.

What worlds will we create..

Life has been gamified by the creation of tokens in the form of money. This game has been fun and not so fun to play. Yet it has given us all something to do. It has given us status and meaning. You can say when asked “I am a builder” or “I am a Doctor” and people can then generalise about the kind of person you might be. In addition, you can generalise about the kind of person you should be.

This “structure” is comforting for the majority. It provides certainty, consistency, routine. So it is no wonder then that we all might freak out if this is going to change. We are talking about significant changes to identity, meaning, routines, and making a living. Capatilism is at the very heart of our society.

So our journey is developing a skill, finding a way to contribute this skill to society and in return society provides the resources for us to live. We will continue to adapt our skills to the needs of society. Those who do this effectively will remain relevant during the slightly disruptive phase that exists between human employment and full automation.

There are some positive signs. As long as there is a human in the loop, generally humans like to work on stuff with humans. In this case robotic and artificial intelligence will support the team to complete its project but not replace it. So curious, creative, wise humans should still be working on problems for a while. In the case of large scale manufacturing and logistics, expect less humans to be involved and more rapid disruption to jobs.

So we are talking about a time when humans have more free time. I think we can all agree on that. Instead of a 40 hour work week, we might be looking at 20 hours, 10 hours or five.

In this non working time we are probably learning, playing, spending time with people we care about, traveling, exploring and solving problems.

I know what you are thinking though. How do we place value on each other? How do we value our time? I think the answer is simple we dont. We have all been taught to gamify each other and to commericalise our time as a limited resource. In fact the game has demanded that we use the most valuable majority of our time employed in contribution and production. When this model inverts, time will not be scarce and you will not have to survive by selling it.