PERSPECTIVES Perspectives on Global Development ON GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT AND and Technology 16 (2017) 700-716 TECHNOLOGY brill.com/pgdt Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and the God/ Useless Divide Alec Stubbs Loyola University Chicago [email protected] Abstract Automation, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology have become topics of increas- ing interest in both academia as well as in popular media. The goal of this article is to establish which issues are the most pressing, and what are the underlying causes of the rise of robots. I demonstrate that fears of automation are well supported by current trends of automation as well as the inherent tendency within a capitalist system to automate at the expense of workers and working wages. Additionally, I point to what appears to be a potential evolutionary divide between what Yuval Noah Harari calls the “god” class and the “useless” class. Finally, I discuss how the new role of informa- tion as the world’s most valued commodity can either exacerbate this coming divide or liberate society. I present the case that in order to diminish the negative effects we must move beyond the present capitalist economic system, towards one in which eco- nomic democracy and the free flow of information thrives. Keywords artificial intelligence – automation – biotechnology – capitalism – Homo Deus – economic democracy – economic inequality – information effect 1 Introduction Automation, artificial intelligence, and human integration with biotechnology are quickly on the rise. Because of this, we are presented with two diametrical- ly opposed future scenarios—one in which we can maximize our cognitive ca- pacities while enjoying a minimized working life, and one in which economic, © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2017 | doi 10.1163/15691497-12341457Downloaded from Brill.com09/24/2021 08:42:14PM via free access Automation, Artificial Intelligence 701 cognitive, and information inequality escalates. This article analyzes the devel- opment of automation, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology with respect to capitalism. I begin by analyzing the role of technology in capitalism, and propose how capitalism has failed to adequately make use of emerging tech- nology. Next, I demonstrate the potentially detrimental development of au- tomation and artificial intelligence within a capitalist framework. I then take up Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow in relation to human integration with biotechnology and his contention that future humans will develop into two classes: the “gods” and the “useless”. Last, I consider how information has become the most valuable commodity in modern society. I contend that we must move beyond capitalism, develop a robust framework for the democratic sharing of information, and provide a strong safety net in order to prevent the exacerbation of inequality. 2 Background on Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and Capitalism Technological progression has been one of the cornerstones of capitalist devel- opment, creating abundant production of necessary goods and services over a rather minimal period of time. Thus, the value of technology in the develop- ment of human society cannot be understated. However, the last several de- cades have shown a stark increase in productivity without a rise in real wages, a reduction of the workweek, or the production and dissemination of an abun- dance of necessary resources to citizens of the world. Rising profit margins for the economic elite, glaring contrasts in economic inequality, and inexhaust- ible consumerism in the form of credit in order to feed exponential production levels has become the staple of modern capitalism. Technology, once thought of as labor saving and lifestyle improving devices, has been co-opted by the economic elite in favor of increasing profit margins. Essentially, capitalism has failed to “deliver the goods,” in the sense that it has used its technological advancements to increase productivity to unsus- tainable levels. The first instance in which we see this is through the use of technology to promote and extend capital flight. Richard Wolff (2012), pro- fessor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, contends that from the 1970s onward, the use technology by the capitalist class (large-scale international transportation, long-distance and overseas monitoring devices, robotic labor, etc.) opened the door to lower wage markets around the world. Because of this capital flight to “emerging markets,” the production of jobs was exported around the world, fleeing the US and creating a capacity for lower national wages and rising unemployment. Rather than using these cheaply Perspectives on Global Development and TechnologyDownloaded 16 from(2017) Brill.com09/24/2021 700-716 08:42:14PM via free access 702 Stubbs produced goods to provide basic necessities for citizens, the economic elite has seized this opportunity to drive profit margins. The production of an enor- mous amount of cheap goods must be followed by a demand for the goods as well as a necessary supply of money in order to purchase these foreign goods. However, without rising real wages in the US, the average citizen has been largely forced into the use of credit for purchasing goods, thus driving an ever-increasing element of consumerism in the face of rising debt. From the point of view of the economic elite, this is a win-win scenario; they are able to pay workers less, but still have a market of individuals to purchase their goods, and they are able to charge interest on the credit necessary to purchase these goods. Clearly, this is an instance where capitalism has failed to use technology for qualitative change, and an increase in technological advancement can only serve to exacerbate these circumstances unless drastic structural changes are to occur. Domestically, the rise of robotics led to a similar destruction of wages and rising unemployment. In his paper “Ricardo Was Right,” economist Paul Samuelson (1989) demonstrated that the rising unemployment of the 1970s onward was causally tied to the development of technology (Pp. 47-62). This in and of itself would not be a failure if it were the case that, as a society, we were willing to (a) look for a reduction in the workweek, (b) provide basic needs at an essentially cost-free rate, and (c) expand the ownership of infor- mation and technological assets. Unfortunately, this has not been the case, and economic inequality has reared its ugly head in the face of technological ad- vancement. In fact, in terms of growing wealth inequality, the past two decades have proved to be drastically unequal. In terms of total wealth, according to Forbes 400, the inflation-adjusted net worth of America’s richest 400 individu- als rose from $506 billion in 1995 to $1.6 trillion in 2007 and again to $2 tril- lion by 2013 (Kennickell 2009; Konrad 2013). Comparatively, in 2010, the top fifth of all Americans owned 88.9 percent of all US wealth—the top 1 percent owning 36.7 percent of total US wealth (E. Wolff 2014). These figures are clear demonstrations of growing economic inequality in the face of technological advancements that could easily provide basic necessities and curb economic inequality. While the past use of technology for profit is certainly telling of our eco- nomic and resource disparities, the future is what is most frightening. In “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?” Oxford economists Carl Frey and Michael Osborne provide a detailed estimate of the number of jobs that will be systematically lost to computerization (i.e. robot- ics, artificial intelligence) in the near future. Frey and Osborne (2013) paint a rather grim future, predicting that nearly 47 percent of total US employment is Perspectives on Global Development and TechnologyDownloaded from 16 Brill.com09/24/2021 (2017) 700-716 08:42:14PM via free access Automation, Artificial Intelligence 703 at risk to computerization. Other, less conservative estimates push this num- ber to 50 percent and beyond, such as Rice University professor Moshe Vardi, who contends that it is entirely possible that by 2045 human labor “may be obsolete” (Boyd 2016). What’s more, the World Economic Forum’s 2016 compre- hensive work, “The Future of Jobs: Employment, Skills and Workforce Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” unveils several key aspects of our emerg- ing economy, including the loss of nearly 7.1 million jobs and the creation of only 2 million new jobs by 2020 due to robotics. However, these considerations are primarily concerned with robotic re- placement of productive labor. In an even more striking and progressive view of artificial intelligence, others have contended that with the correct appropri- ation of emotional development, artificially intelligent robots may be entirely capable of fulfilling even human resources roles. In a recent New York Times article, Zeynep Tufekci (2015) discusses the rise of machine technology and the eclectic types of jobs that artificial intelligence is beginning to be able to fulfill. For example, she notes the rise in emotional processing software, speech recognition and response, and the relatively low cost of replacing human labor with robot labor. There is a clear demonstration that machines are increasingly able to replace humans even in the so-called “human resources” sector. Dealing with emotional issues in a more pragmatic way may lead to the replacement of these kinds of jobs in favor of a more patient worker. Some may