Capital, AGI, and human ambition - by L Rudolf L
Edited to add: The main takeaway of this post is meant to be: Labour-replacing AI will shift the relative importance of human v non-human factors of production, which reduces the incentives for society to care about humans while making existing powers more effective and entrenched. Many people are reading this post in a way where either (a) "capital" means just "money" (rather than also including physical capital like factories and data centres), or (b) the main concern is human-human inequality (rather than broader societal concerns about humanity's collective position, the potential for social change, and human agency).
I've heard many people say something like "money won't matter post-AGI". This has always struck me as odd, and as most likely completely incorrect.
First: labour means human mental and physical effort that produces something of value. Capital goods are things like factories, data centres, and software—things humans have built that are used in the production of goods and services. I'll use "capital" to refer to both the stock of capital goods and to the money that can pay for them. I'll say "money" when I want to exclude capital goods.
