It is not hard to imagine a problem solver instead of true AGI. Someone could pose a task in scenario 1: earn me a buck. A buck would be earned and people would lose jobs. Another task in scenario 2 would be: earn me a decent buck. There would be less bucks, but no one would lose a job.
Of course that true artificial intelligence would reject scenario 1, but I'm afraid that scenario 1 is also possible. I've learned with computers that nothing is impossible to program. One could program even criminal activities. And what really bothers me are activities that are not labeled as criminal activities, but stand in a way of thrive of humanity.
Imagine this task: make me a car out of ingredients from the nature. A robot would go to a mountain, mine some ores, then use some tools from a garage and ta-daaa, there is a car in a matter of days. Now comes the tricky part: a car would be sold for 100 bucks. And people lose jobs. You just have to own a robot, you don't have to spend one tiny dine, and you get valuable items for dispatching over the world.
Automated task solver could be a great thing, but our society should change from inside if we want everyone to thrive. By the current arrangement, a few guys would be rich, and millions would be poor. And a poor cannot afford medicines or anything else needed for a decent life.
Sure, we could build completely ethical AGI based on the problem solver, that carefully picks tasks that would or would not do for us. But I guarantee, a lot of people would abuse the bear problem solver, causing the world crisis.
The real question is right that one from the beginning: if it is programmed nowadays, the human crisis is inevitable, but are there some obligations we have regarding to a small number of unlucky humans, or a greater number of other unlucky living beings (holocaust of nowadays that no one talks about)? If everyone would be ok right now, I would say that we can wait a few decades or centuries (waiting for the basic income sounds right), but there are beings in the real pain right now on this planet. Should we reach for them and help them? I'm sure that things would turn out right, after the first stress, but I also believe we could avoid that first stress by better arranging our society first.
Right now I think that it could be a good idea to offer a partial solution by which someone, in more or less distant future, could base her/his AGI project, when the things start to get acceptable shape. The presence would not be compromised, and the future would be helped.
But, there would be also a little monster inside us, crying out: someone is being hurt right now and no one helps her/him. And that part breaks my heart.
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