As AI (Artificial Intelligence) continues to evolve, it is said that our jobs will be replaced by AI-equipped machines (robots).
What awaits us in the future when AI evolves further: an ideal society (utopia) or a hellish society (dystopia)?
Today, I would like to talk about the future of humanity and how society will change.
Let’s talk about AI first.
AI stands for artificial intelligence, and AI is about machines thinking on behalf of humans.
In the past, the history of mankind was drastically changed by the Industrial Revolution.
Simply put, the Industrial Revolution meant that human labor was replaced by machines.
For example, before the Industrial Revolution, cloth was woven by human power, but with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, steam-powered machines began to weave cloth instead of humans.
The steam engine also made it possible to move locomotives and carry large amounts of freight on them without human power.
In the history of mankind, there was a revolution that led to the use of tools, which was followed by the Industrial Revolution with the introduction of power-driven machines that increased automation.
In today's world, as AI continues to evolve, the machines that used to be operated by humans will now be operated by AI instead.
Until now, machines have done the work in place of humans, and humans have operated those machines. As AI becomes more advanced, AI will operate those machines instead of humans.
In our daily lives, for example, vacuum cleaners used to be handled and moved by humans, but with the advent of AI-powered automatic vacuum cleaners such as Roomba, humans no longer have to move them.
Of course, it is still in the process of development and there are still many things that need to be done by humans, but in the future, it will be more advanced and human hands will no longer be needed for cleaning.
As for driving, humans have been driving and operating cars until today, but this has caused accidents and taken a lot of time. From now on, automatic driving by AI will become more and more common. Driving will be safer and require little or no human intervention.
As AI is introduced in various fields, tasks that used to be done by humans will be replaced by AI robots one after another.
AI has become a hot topic in the world. However, in general, people only talk about how AI will take away human jobs and increase the number of unemployed people.
Now, let me tell you what kind of society we will have as more and more AI is introduced and robots enter society.
To tell the truth, there are roughly two possible futures.
First, let's talk about an ideal society = utopia.
As AI takes over a variety of tasks, humans will be freed from tedious and simple work.
AI robots will take over the tasks that humans find painful to do, and humans will be freed from their toil.
What will we do then? People will start to do what they love as a job, whether it's something they've done as a hobby or something they've given up on because it doesn't pay the bills.
Right now, there are only a few people who are doing what they love for a living.
Most of them are working to survive and earn money.
Therefor, some people get sick from job stress or even die from overwork in the worst cases.
In the future society, however, many people will be able to contribute to the society by doing what they love and using their talents.
Today, there are very few people who can make a living as a painter, even if they love to draw.
Even Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime, and he lived in extreme poverty.
Most people, even those with such a talent for painting, can't make a living from it and have to make a living doing something else.
There are also a lot of people who want to be actors, but there are only a few who can make a living as actors.
Most aspiring actors work part-time jobs to make ends meet, and try their best to somehow become budding actors by working as stage actors.
There are also many people who want to be singers, and only a handful of them can make a living from singing.
Many of them work at other jobs for a living while trying to become a major singer.
The same would be true for writing.
It is difficult to make a living as a writer, for those who want to write novels or other texts for a living.
There is an author who won a major literary award while working as a convenience store clerk, but she was told not to quit her part-time job by her editor even after winning the award.
Even for someone who has won a big prize, it is still very difficult to make a living by writing.
As you can see, even if you have many dreams and hopes and want to have a job in the future, it is difficult in reality.
However, as the spread of AI robots frees people from much of their labor, they will be able to live in the jobs they want.
Nowadays, some people can make a living by uploading videos on YouTube. As this progresses further, getting likes on social networking sites can become a job.
Up until now, doing what you love may have only been self-satisfying. From now on, you will be able to make a living by gaining the sympathy and support of others.
The widespread use of AI robots will bring about lives, though it may not be a good comparison, similar to those of the people who had slaves.
In ancient Greece, labor was left to the slaves and the citizens lived freely, learning and doing the arts.
It can be said that Greek philosophy was born from such a free life of citizens.
The ancient Greeks would not have been able to do something as abstract as philosophy if they had been pressed for time by labor.
With the development and widespread use of AI robots, we will be able to leave much of the work to the robots, while we devote ourselves to learning and the arts, and do the work we want to do.
Freed from a lot of labor, humanity will turn to spirituality and strive to improve it.
There is a possibility that we will live in such a utopian society in the future.
Our society will not automatically become such an ideal society (utopia) by sitting back and doing nothing. We can have this kind of future by striving for an ideal society.
Next, let's talk about another possibility.
This is the possibility that society will become a dystopia as AI robots continue to evolve.
In such a society, only a privileged few have freedom and power, while the most of the citizens live a life of minimum subsistence and lack of freedom.
The privileged class could be the elite and ruling class of communism, and or the evolved capitalist class.
One or both of them will be in charge of the AI robots and will monopolize the wealth and power of the society.
Most of the citizens are given a minimum of food, clothing and shelter through rationing, and they are forced to submit to the ruling class in return.
Surveillance cameras will be set up all over the city, and the authorities will be able to view all information exchanged via the Internet, monitoring people's actions and thoughts.
Anyone who is suspected of having even the slightest disturbing thought is immediately taken away by the secret police, brainwashed in concentration camps, and converted into a person who praises the government.
In this way, a segregated society is created, which is divided between a poor, controlled general public and a free, privileged ruling class.
As you can see, there are roughly two different paths for the future of humanity.
You've probably heard of the word “parallel worlds.” The two futures of humanity that I just mentioned are parallel worlds and also parallel futures that exist simultaneously.
Whether the society will be a utopia or a dystopia depends on the choices we make, who are alive today.
The dystopian society I mentioned above is already becoming a reality in China.
If China should dominate the world for the foreseeable future, our planet will be moving towards a dystopian society.
If we want to move towards a utopian society, we should make the choice to achieve a society where individual freedom is respected.
Japan now seems to be weighing the free world against Chinese communism.
Japan seems to have one foot in both places.
Which world do we want to live in? We need to know that it depends on the choices we make.
Translated by Kyoko.u
