[HS]

People are losing their access to basic needs in countries without good excuses. Most everyone wants to deal with this, but the enemy seems incorporeal. Thought experiments have been known to open new doors...

Let's assume: (1) The ASI respects everyone's right to personal freedom, and (2) it is constrained by an accurate hierarchy of needs. What I mean by that, is it can't optimize for a single variable at the cost of others, thereby decreasing the general quality of life. The end result has to improve both general well-being and a specific concern.

[infurl]

Good question and one that I've been thinking about too.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-17/homeless-people-evicted-from-perth-hotel-given-new-accommodation/13163850

There are a lot of ways to break it down but the main cause is lack of affordable accommodation. When someone wants to invest money so they can retire and live on passive income, they don't want to have to keep working to do that. If they choose to invest in rental properties, it is a lot less effort to collect $10k per month from a wealthy professional in one high end property than it is to collect $1k per month from a horde of rowdy students in ten affordable rental properties. Alternatively, the more effort they delegate, the less profit they will make and the lower their own standard of living will be (most landlords aren't very rich either so don't blame them).

I think the right kind of automation could make the process more efficient. Imagine if all those tenants needs could be sorted out by a smart enough chatbot that could field their requests and engage the necessary tradespeople and service providers. Maybe it would still be less profitable but there would be less risk too. Rental properties typically don't see more than 80% occupancy rates so if you knew you would be guaranteed $8K per month income every month, that would be better than knowing you might not have any income at all for three months out of ten.

[HS]

Maybe an engineering approach could provide a quick fix for the worst symptoms of poverty, this would involve some kind of infrastructural safety net at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Something along the lines of your automated housing idea seems appropriate. Though I think this should be done in a way which would randomize social class segregation as much as possible from the get go. But yes, new housing infrastructure which is safe, automated and simple, that seems like the right idea. Maybe something along the lines of Japanese hotels, (a medium sized, one room, well equipped type deal). I think these should come with a simple job in the same building or close by, with which you would be able to earn your keep if you don't have the money, so that the housing units could be self sustaining and even profitable for the people staying there, giving the residents the hope, opportunity, and motivation to get themselves back on their feet.

Basically, a guaranteed safe place to spend the night, store your belongings, develop some skills, and save up some money. Maybe free nutritious food could be included along with this, (possibly surplus from whatever the job is?) because if people can't access basic nutrition, and they're stuck in a stressful or sedentary environment, a large percentage of the population's physical/mental health may deteriorate even though it's avoidable. Elon has reached maximum capacity I'm pretty sure, maybe someone with a will and a way will see this, fly with it, build on it, or be inspired to create their own version.

[Zero]

Maybe an ASI could convince (better than I can) people who want to "retire and live on passive income" and make them understand that they can and should help those who are suffering, simply by offering an affordable solution... explaining that life is not about "collecting money", but rather about caring and becoming a good human being.

Do we need an ASI to make them understand?

[ivan.moony]

Unhappy people don't see other people's misery. Thus, our job is to make people happy, so they can turn to other unhappy people and help them.

[Zero]

Someone can be very rich, have a great family and wonderful friends, and still be profoundly (sometimes secretly) unhappy. Only caring, helping others, being a good person, can make you really - deeply - happy.

[HS]

Cool, we've identified an engineering approach, a psychology approach, and a nutritional approach. It should be possible to implement each one in a good way. For psychology, I find those ad's "for the price of one cup of coffee you could..." feel manipulative, we need a good faith approach instead of those kinds of tactics.

No ASI required, but maybe an imaginary one can help. 

[ivan.moony]

How about a mass hypnosis?

If we rent a good hypnotizer and a half an hour on national tv, ...

[HS]

This is not the way, lol. 

[Zero]

 
A good ASI should be able to mesmerize even our politicians!!

[infurl]

You're talking about subliminal advertising which was so effective and so hard to detect that it has been banned in some countries for decades. I expect it doesn't stop lots of bad actors from still trying to use it though.