AI And Humans: Is Co-existence Possible?

From Jugraj Singh, Seattle, WA

“Capitalist production, therefore, develops technology, and the combining together of various processes into a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth – the soil and the laborer.” –Karl Marx

The West wants artificial intelligence (AI) and robots to compete with and replace humans to maximize profits. The West does not realize the implications of rendering so many humans jobless and ultimately making humans obsolete.

Western capitalism and democracy give three identities to humans: worker, consumer, and voter. If humans do not work, how will they consume? This will threaten the survival of the capitalist system because it requires human workers to consume material goods and services perpetually and mindlessly.

 Whether co-existence can occur between humans and AI largely depends on the underlying economic and political system. Western capitalism is based upon the exploitation of labor and resources, and the taking away of all human values and ethics to turn people into consumers. Western democracy requires people to act as a vote bank to be abused largely between two fake parties while the ruling capitalist elite control real political power. Whether a Democrat or a Republican wins makes little difference to the billionaire club: Warren Buffet, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, as it has a stranglehold on political power in America.

Japan is economically and politically the most western capitalist, western democratic, and amongst the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Where have Western capitalism, western democracy, and technological advancement left Japan? Japan is the best example of the endpoint of Western capitalism and Western democracy.

Japan faces an existential crisis. Masako Mori, adviser to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, has warned, “If we go on like this, the country will disappear.” Mori said this after the Japanese Ministry of Health announced that in 2022, almost twice as many Japanese died than were born: 799,728 births and more than 1.58 million deaths. At 48 years, Japan has the second oldest median age in the world (World Bank), and the proportion of people aged 65 and over is more than 29%; a shrinking fertility rate of 1.34 children per woman; and a 2023 birth rate of 7.013 per thousand people (United Nations). Japan’s current population is 125,364,748. In 2020, researchers predicted Japan’s population would decline from 128 million in 2017 to less than 53 million in 2100. This is a loss of more than 75 million people in less than 83 years. There is no need for anyone to fight Japan; western capitalism and democracy are doing an excellent job of ensuring that the Japanese go extinct.

A re-think of society by the East is needed because AI and robots are here to stay, and western capitalism cannot balance technology and human concerns. The East must create an evolved economic system in which humans can co-exist with AI.

(This submission is not edited.)