Transumanar

The danger of a completely unaccountable power elite - an existential threat for humanity?

We have been discussing existential threats that threaten humanity, such as asteroids, rogue nanoids, diseases. However have we been ignoring the deeply corrupting of concentration of wealth? Has a very small elite of human beings become so rich they risk endangering the rest of humanity - especially of an approaching “singularity” keeps giving this elite ever more advanced means to project their will on the rest of humanity? Do we need to look at such extreme concentration of power and take steps to reduce the disparities, in order to protect us from these unaccountable, inherently self-serving, antidemocratic power elites?

Today I have written the lifeboat foundation with an urgent request to add a wholly new class of existential risk to humanity.

Lifeboat foundation lists an extensive list of socalled existentiial risks. These risks are all real dangers to the majority of humanity in the future. If we include those risks of that category I’d also include another risk, which seems to be completely ignored.

I’d add the dangers posed by of an elite of ultra-rich humans. Such an elite of humanity may very well decide to use robotics, nanotechnology, limited AI, nonlethal and lethal weapons, mind control and their already obscene affluence to consolidate their power over the world and simply exclude the rest of humanity. And personally I would regard that possibility as a bigger risk to the majority of humanity than any of the above risks listed. Is this an imagined risk? I think not. The track record of “the powerful” (other than governments) has been ghastly - even in recent history. I do not allege that such an elite will be a unified conspiracy dead set on making life miserable for the less fortunate of society - but even without resorting to projecting a conspiracy on these people, it’s quite clear what’s happening in the more affluent societies, such as the US - the elite uses already abuses political processes to deconstruct common national resources, reduce taxes for the privileged, enacts more draconian legal infrastructure, a morbidly skewed justice system and bizarre legal penalties. And the list goes on, a consistent pattern of the aflluent leveraging hidden costs to those with less economic power. Recent examples are in health care, the environment, global warming, security (enclaves), quality of food.

At some point in the next decades an ever increasing number of useful economic activity can be arguably done by machines. The humans left unemployed by such economic shifts could be left useless, excluded (especially in right-wing countries that have yet to accept welfare as a part of civilized society) and ultimately disallowed to reproduce, or similarly treated to reduce their imprint on the world. Retraining such huge numbers in the timespan is a ludicrous proposal and at best can serve to aggravate the situation - if a human being is left redundant in this new polarized economy he can easily be scapegoated, because “he should be flexible and retrain”. Again, this can be regarded as leveraging off the societal costs of automation off on society, where the rich (the corporate sector) keeps all benefits to themselves.

These elites will use means at their disposal (ad they clearly have a track record of doing already) to curtail space, resources, food, energy or opportunity to those they regard as useless, using whatever definition they themselves dictate. One look at how the rich and corporations have been treating the third world is a clear indicator of the inherent ruthlessness in people who are left unaccountable by the majorities. They can do as they please and have been doing so. And this trend is worsening.

Power begets power. People with power want more power, at the exclusion of all others. Te biggest risk to people living today is an terminal state of exclusion of the vast majority of humanity. The rich may act contrary to democratic principles, may do so with “us” being unable to do anything about it. They may decide the world is overpopulated (which is clearly is) and decide the unproductive and disowned are the biggest problem.

I urge the lifeboat foundation to start regarding the grossly inequitable disparities between obscene wealth in the hands of some and dehumanizing poverty in most others as one of the greatest existential threats to humanity - and to assertively act to oppose this ongoing degenerative process in todays world and economies. To refrain from acknowledging this risk would be negligent, cowardly and inconsistent.

Most poignantly, I urge all who read this to consider if he or she is part of this elite or has a fair chance of being part of it. This is an issue that clearly transcends ideological dualities such as right and left, socialist or globalist, progressive or conservative. When considering the dangers of an elite granted such clearly outrageous power and superiority over the rest of society, when technology will allow them to abuse any near-singularity advances, is extremely naive. If you consider this issue whether or not it is an existential danger I ask everyone - did you recently meet any of the 5% of humanity that ownes 75% of all things on this planet? Do you know any of those people? Do you think you have any chance of ever being part of this global power elite?

Posted by Khannea Suntzu on 01/12 at 06:22 PM
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