There is a view I’ve encountered fairly often,[1] which can be summarized as follows:
After the widespread deployment of advanced AGI, assuming humanity survives, material scarcity will largely disappear. Everyone will have sufficient access to necessities like food, housing, and other basic resources. Therefore, the only scarce resource remaining will be “status". As a result, the primary activity humans will engage in will be playing status games with other humans.
I want to challenge this idea. Specifically, I have two main objections.
My first objection is modest but important. In my view, this idea underestimates the extent to which AIs could participate in status games alongside us, not just as external tools or facilitators but as actual participants and peers in human social systems. Specifically, the idea that humans will only be playing status games with each other strikes me as flawed because it overlooks the potential for [...]
The original text contained 1 footnote which was omitted from this narration.
First published:
January 15th, 2025
Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/hQTBLGsQjucm3hjQ6/we-probably-won-t-just-play-status-games-with-each-other)
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO).
