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> When none of us have jobs or income, there will be no ability for us to buy products. And then no reason for companies to buy ads to sell products to people who don’t have money. Without ad money (or the potential of future ad money), the people pushing the bounds of AGI into work replacement will lose the very income streams powering this research and their valuations.

I don't think so. I agree the push for AGI will kill the modern consumer product economy, but I think it's quite possible for the economy to evolve into a new form (that will probably be terrible for most humans) that keep pushes "work replacement."

Imagine, an AGI billionare buying up land, mines, and power plants as the consumer economy dies, then shifting those resources away from the consumer economy into self-aggrandizing pet projects (e.g. ziggurats, penthouses on Mars, space yachts, life extension, and stuff like that). He might still employ a small community of servants, AGI researchers, and other specialists; but all the rest of the population will be irrelevant to him.

And individual autarky probably isn't necessary, consumption will be redirected towards the massive pet production I mentioned, with vestigial markets for power, minerals, etc.



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