Actually, I do get it. Strong AI can, maybe will, replace most jobs now performed by humans, from bussing tables, to driving cars, to designing, building and distributing cars. What I am saying, and apparently YOU don't get, is that ALL of this, including the "...but this is different" argument, has been made before, and every time new jobs that had never been thought of before were created. So, what tells you that the human desire to be productive will not win out in the face of AI?
Because if a human can do it, a human can also program a Strong AI to do it also. And since the AI will learn from its mistake, share information with similar AI's that do similar things and works/thinks 24/7, it wont take the new computer more than a few weeks to do it better than any human being alive.
See that is the 'gap' between the introduction of new technology and the maximized capitalization of the new industry that technology created. And the gap between those two points in time keeps getting smaller. Gun powder weapons was something only a handful of people knew in Western Europe in the 13th century, but by the American Revolution, every blacksmith could not only make gun powder and so could many other professions, and the blacksmith could make the guns and bullets as well. That took about 500 years to completely capitalize to the point that anyone, virtually could do it. Textile industries and furriers went through a similar but shorter cycle, on and on, till the cycle was only a few decades such as when computers went from big huge roomful machines to something so small you could put it on your lap, literally. Today new technologies are being introduced and they emerge with a maturation of a handful of years. The labor market is literally flooded with programmers of all kinds and the older programmers and marginal laborers are no longer able to find work.
By 2030 none of them will be able to reliably find work unless they get retrained multiple times.
But with Strong AI, the computers will be programmed and learn faster than the students can take the courses and get their degrees.
IF you dont see the difference between that and every other technological cycle that preceded it, I cant help you.
What YOU are failing to understand is that, history as a guide, I have faith that humans will be innovative and find ways to be productive.
I'll even give you a few possible ideas:
- Art, in all it's forms
- Custom craftsmanship. (one of a kind furniture, mods to mass produced items, truly custom home renovations, etc.)
- Medicine (I seriously doubt people would take kindly to a robot telling them they have terminal cancer)
That's just three off the top of my head, and I'm not even an innovator. Imagine what people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs could come up with...
People are already getting some medical treatment from robots, dude. With insurance companies low balling their subscribers as much as they do, for example making people use generics instead of name brand medicine, they wont hesitate to require them to robotic doctors prior to going to human doctors.
Money will be so hard to obtain that people will do without it, via barter and self made products that dont cost them money. It will slowly transition in over a couple of decades, but the people selling belts, jewelry, tools and gadgets at gun shows are already illustrating the capability of the home made product. And when there simply isnt enough people making cash to let it circulate as currency should, people will begin to trade it for other home made items and/or common commodities, like detergent and alcohol.
In fact, all this is already happening in the Caribbean, drug networks and the black market.
