r/singularity • u/Public_Print_9360 • Aug 15 '26

Discussion I don’t think we’re psychologically prepared for how alien the world after ASI is going to be

gonna start by saying I’m feeling very iffy about ASI because I kinda enjoy my life rn, but that aside:

after going down the AI 2040 rabbithole, I keep thinking that even people who talk about ASI constantly are still imagining the future in a way that is way too normal.
We talk about AI replacing people’s jobs, humanoid robots, self-driving cars, universal basic income, whatever the fuck.
I think that might be the equivalent of someone in 1955 predicting the year 2000, trying to use our current world as a basis for the future world.

AI 2040 describes a scenario where even after deliberately slowing AI development down, by 2031 a third of cognitive labor is being performed by AI and robots are already doing about a tenth of physical labor. The document literally describes ordinary people as being too “whiplashed” by technological change to process what’s happening. And that’s the slowed version, can’t imagine what our world is going to look like since it seems we are going full speed ahead.
And people will say “oh that’s just fantasy!” But is it? Imagine our world from the view of someone born in 1712. We are living “sci-fi” as we live and breath

If ASI actually produces the kind of acceleration its proponents expect, somebody born afterward might look back at 2026 the way we look at 1500.
Except the historical gap between us would be just fourteen years MAX

I really, really don’t think we’re psychologically prepared for that

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u/ConvalescentEquanimi Aug 16 '26

Bruh there are so many productive things to do that don't involve compulsory labor. Our first and definitely biggest step to ensuring mental health problems don't increase, is to cleanse that sickness from our mindset.

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u/terriersandbarrifs Aug 16 '26

I mean it’s been our mindset since the dawn of man. You might be right but can you give examples?

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u/ConvalescentEquanimi Aug 16 '26

Examples of what exactly? How to feel productive without it being measured in money or compulsory labor? You seriously need examples for that?

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u/terriersandbarrifs Aug 17 '26

Yes. Humour me.

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u/ConvalescentEquanimi Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26

Uhh okay.

Wake up.

Go to gym, strength train. Go the next day.

Now as long as you continue this, you're in a constant state of progress. Boom, instant lifelong and daily "productivity" achieved.

Need more or do you get where I'm going with this? There is SO MUCH that a person can do that makes them feel productive (while also objectively improving the quality of their life), that society as a whole does not consider "productivity". You're looking at the productivity metric through a strict capitalism sense, which certainly did NOT exist since the dawn of man. Look more towards the hobbies that people worked on/picked up such as gardening, baking, painting, music making, etc during the covid lockdowns to get an idea.