“If humans provide no more labor, because all of it is done by machines … no ideological system has an answer to this” … Imo this is just a modern version of luddism or technophobia. Human wants are infinite, therefore there will always be demand for ‘a human touch’. 
Discussion
They completely underestimate humanhood
too many people are so mentally weak these days, largely defeatists that are already slaves to these machines & have long given up own sovereignty to be led like the sheep that they are. Humanity needs a mindful renaissance.
How much more are you willing to pay for a given product for it to be made by humans?
I prefer fabrics woven by robots for example.
Depends if we’re talking a massage or a brick
Totally agree. I think all the brick-type work that you’re talking about goes straight to robots, and there’s a rush for what remains. I wish I had an estimate for what percent of the economy isn’t affected by the desire for human touch, but I bet it’s over 50%
I think the idea that the human touch allows everyone to have a job in an AI world is an unfounded religious belief. Got any reason why I should believe it?
I think there will be less work. There will be less earning. It might work out fine. Maybe there will be more charity. (Imagine if you could charitably feed a million people with a hundred sats.)
I'm not saying we know what will happen. I'm saying we DON'T know.
I totally agree with your view. Humans need each other. We are dependent on one another. We will always have markets for exchange even if what we exchange drastically changes.
The problem of this quote starts with using the ill-defined term labor and get worse by assuming ideological system’s purpose is to be having “an answer” rather than prohibiting the questions.
This is like being a nocoiner but for AI. Y'all are gonna get your faces melted when AI rips.
#[0]
#[2] What's your take on what Tuur is saying here? I think I'm skeptical for two reasons:
1. AI may someday transcend the constraints of "human action," destroying the fundamental tenets of economics.
2. "The Human Touch" seems like it may not be enough to maintain a balance between scarcity and available labor.
"When computers do most jobs, human labor is relatively unimportant, and whether human wages rise or fall depends on whether owners of capital place a strong special value on services that only humans can provide. If they do, human wages can rise with the economy again, but if not, then human wages fall faster than computer prices now do. During this phase, economic growth is much faster."
Robin Hanson's "Economic Growth Given Machine Intelligence" about 1994, if memory serves.
"What does this all mean for you now? If you expect that you or people you care about might live to see an upload transition, you might want to start to teach yourself and your children some new habits. Learn to diversify your assets, so they are less at risk from a large drop in wages; invest in mutual funds, real estate, etc., and consider ways in which you might sell fractions of your future wages for other forms of wealth. If you can't so diversify, consider saving more. [18]
18. This is, by the way, the same strategy that you should use to prepare for the possibility that A.I. is developed before uploads."
Robin Hanson, "IF UPLOADS COME FIRST" 1994.
There's no way that my work will ever be replaced by AI/robots. The idea that robots will come to repaint your house is utterly absurd. Programming robots to scrape, sand, fill & repair holes, talk to customers about color schemes & purchasing paint etc etc. Will never, ever happen.