Hey AI, Predict the Future Please

This isn't hype. This is happening, and it's happening faster than our brains can imagine. 

Technology doesn't remove jobs, it reduces cost. And this time, with powerful AI, the reduction in cost is every field that isn't directly involved with the physical world.

Animals, as far as we know, can't think in time. The zebra enjoys itself when eating, and knows it must run when being eaten. But poor man, man thinks in time. He fears an unlikely tomorrow like it is currently taking place. He is able to construct a world inside his head, one that will never occur in reality. (Cue Alan Watts, the Ocean).

The animal can foresee a single step into the future - if I run, I'm not eaten. If I eat, I'm not hungry now.

The human brain can see a few more steps into the future - if I buy groceries today, and if I go to the party on Saturday, I won't have to go buy them on Saturday, so it makes sense for me to go today.
If my airplane gets delayed and if it's past midnight by the time I reach, I'll order a taxi, and if not, I'll call a friend as soon as I land.

Our brains, however, are highly limited in how many steps into the future we can think. Foreseeing all outcomes is exponential in nature. Further assigning probabilities to each outcome for instructing the direction of thought is mind-bogglingly hard.

Animals vs Humans

I've spent months trying to think what the world would look like post AGI / powerful AI. What does orders of magnitude reduced intelligence cost imply, what happens to the economy, who do corporations build for if no one has the money to buy things anymore. Moreover, what do I do with my savings, and whether I should search for a new field of work.

My brain, like yours, can't predict what is about to come. It's all too exponential for us to think. And surprisingly, once it happens, it'll seem so very obvious.

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Side note: AI is not going to be evil. Terminator isn't going to happen. It's the people using AIs who will have infinite power to do evil which we should be so very wary of. It's not machines vs man. It's man using machines vs natural man.

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