Well, the ultra rich trust fund kids who basically dont have to think about money or achieving anything seem to be doing fine, so Im not worried about a life without work.

Thanks for this man..I saw your post on ChatGPT and got it set up pretty quickly. Awesome.

I like the optimism that we will find new meaning, and hope you are right.

It sounds like you believe we all invent our own meaning which could be almost anything. I disagree with that and think evolution has pretty much hardcoded us to want to "make a positive difference" and that it will be very disorienting for the majority of people if AIs do everything better so there is no positive difference left to make.

The question is if the current approach (that is soaking up most of the investment and attention right now) is the end game, or is just a small piece.

Despite what this sub thinks, I don't know any experts truly believe that we have reached the end game. Even worse, no one truly knows what it will take to get to true AGI/ASI.

Personally, as someone with experience in software development and ML, I think that AI usage will continue to increase. It already has been increasing. But not in the way most people think. And AGI is a pipe dream at this point, I will be pleasantly surprised if I see it within my lifetime.

Thank you for commenting. If your figure of 5% is correct then I agree that it's basically a non-issue.
I realize not everyone sits and ponders these thoughts but I really think the figure is WAY higher than 5% that wonder about their purpose and would feel lost if they see none.

I was watching that recent talk sam altman did and he was saying they misjudged how big chatgpt was going to be and how they are going to be slower in releasing things in the future. That kind of disappointed me a bit because it sounds like they are going to be holding things back and just drip feeding them to us to not make as much of an impact and get people more comfortable with the gradual change.

1. You give nukes way more credit then they deserve.

2. The nuclear weapons are pointing at each other, the goal is to knock out the other guys capabilities without killing his civilian population (you need them alive to be hostages).

3. You can have a large war between major powers without it going nuclear, as long as the goal of the war isn't to dismantle each other.

Source: I was an Air Force Miniteman Operator

Maybe not yet. It will time and assistance of AI itself to figure it out.

But what do you do when even your childs and spouse do not need you?

What do you know about what's going on in people's mind? I am quite sure that most people have had their own existential crisis in their lives.

Many people already find purpose in doing things that don't require being a cog in a machine or comparison to other entities. If they rely on those things to feel fulfilled, then they will need to find something else when ASI is created.

Ww3 will most certainly end civilization, if not the entire species. Experts are unsure whether a full scale nuclear exchange would kill every single human being, but certainly the vast majority.

Nukes

Spiritual enlightenment is one route to lasting happiness. it's not mystical at all. And nihilism is not the only alternative to believing in religion or enlightenment. You can believe that life is meaningful to other people and yourself, so impacting lives is meaningful in that strong sense.

I am afraid there would not be any Manhattan like projects the fear of the enemy being the first in creating a powerful entity like agi would impel them towards total annihilation of the other

Look at burning man for what people do when their material needs are met.

They come up with fun things to give away and activities to share. And they do giant projects just because they're cool and people will be impressed.

I enjoy playing my guitar, even though I’m not João Gilberto. I enjoy cooking even though I’m not a Michelin grade chef. I enjoy a run even though my personal best is 10km in 55min. Etc. Even today I enjoy doing things I’m not the world’s best at. I don’t see that changing when someone else is the new best.

I think challenging, exciting, and fun games and projects will play a big role in finding meaning in a post-scarcity world.

Recession won't stop it, ww3 might even speed it up.

Because those monkeys have made it?

I like to believe that some form of spiritual enlightenment is possible. No evidence for that, it just beats believing in nihilism for me.

With that in mind, I think evolving AI into something that could take care of all our needs would allow humanity to become fully spiritually aligned and achieve collective enlightenment. It would give us all the tools necessary to master the physical realm and move beyond it. I personally would spend my time trying to be as healthy as possible, practicing meditation and yoga, and trying to develop the deepest level of compassion and empathy possible etc. Even if I'm (very likely) wrong, it gives me something interesting to do.

Very few humans make great inventions, do much art, or write books. A lot of them still consider their lives meaningful, with or without religion.

Why? I'm pretty sure it's because they:

Accomplish goals and complete cool projects

Create meaningful relationships

Positively impact other people.

These things are all still possible when AI is better at everything.

Agreed that people are striving for happiness. They just often have really incomplete theories about how to get it.

why is living absurd? Is it less or more absurd than not living?

unless there is a huge recession or world war III sets in I don't think improvement is likely to stop