I think the specific shape is less important than the obvious general trend, regardless of what form it takes—forms tend to be incidental to circumstances, but incentives and responses to them are much more reliable.
That said, I would say the most “peaceful” version of it looks like people getting some kind of UBI allowance and stuff to buy with them, but the stuff keeps becoming less and less (as it gets redirected to “worthier” enterprises) and more expensive. As conditions worsen and people are generally depressed and have no belief in the future they simply have less children. Possibly forms of wireheading get promoted—this does not even need to be some kind of nefarious plan, the altruists among the AI Lords may genuinely believe it’s an operation of relief for those who feel purposeless among the masses, and it’s the best they can do at any given time. This of course however results in massive drops in birth rates and general engagement with the real world. The less people engage with the world, the cheaper their maintenance is, the more pressure builds up on those who refuse the wireheading—less demand means less offer and then the squeeze hurts those who still want to hang on to the now obsolete lifestyle. Add the obvious possibility of violent, impotent lashing out from the masses followed by entitled outrage at the ingratitude of it all which justifies bloody repression. The ones left outside of the circle get chipped away at until they whittle into almost nothing, and the ones inside keep passively reaping the benefits as all they do is always nominally just within their right to either disposing of their own property or defending against violent aggression. Note how most of this is really just an extrapolation on turbo-steroids of trends we can all already see having emerged in industrialised societies.
Thanks for your response, can I ask the same question of you as I do here in this cousin comment?
I think the specific shape is less important than the obvious general trend, regardless of what form it takes—forms tend to be incidental to circumstances, but incentives and responses to them are much more reliable.
That said, I would say the most “peaceful” version of it looks like people getting some kind of UBI allowance and stuff to buy with them, but the stuff keeps becoming less and less (as it gets redirected to “worthier” enterprises) and more expensive. As conditions worsen and people are generally depressed and have no belief in the future they simply have less children. Possibly forms of wireheading get promoted—this does not even need to be some kind of nefarious plan, the altruists among the AI Lords may genuinely believe it’s an operation of relief for those who feel purposeless among the masses, and it’s the best they can do at any given time. This of course however results in massive drops in birth rates and general engagement with the real world. The less people engage with the world, the cheaper their maintenance is, the more pressure builds up on those who refuse the wireheading—less demand means less offer and then the squeeze hurts those who still want to hang on to the now obsolete lifestyle. Add the obvious possibility of violent, impotent lashing out from the masses followed by entitled outrage at the ingratitude of it all which justifies bloody repression. The ones left outside of the circle get chipped away at until they whittle into almost nothing, and the ones inside keep passively reaping the benefits as all they do is always nominally just within their right to either disposing of their own property or defending against violent aggression. Note how most of this is really just an extrapolation on turbo-steroids of trends we can all already see having emerged in industrialised societies.