Artificial Selection: A Near Future Thought Experiment

Chapter XIII

 Marcus Johnson was a man with a complex character and controversial opinions.

There were people who could spend days listing out all the positive things about him, and it was true that he did improve the lives of a lot of people — not just limited to those philanthropy funds with a multiple digit number that all celebrities nowadays would do. Johnson would expend great time and effort to cross the barriers of the more-than-ever polarized social hierarchy to truly listen to what the people needed, and he would find slots of free time to supervise the entire production and distribution process to fully ensure that the aids could actually reach the hands of those in need.

With all the lives he had saved, there were people who went as far as idolizing him, viewing him as an angel sent from heaven above, and if it was necessary, it could be certain that there were people who would fight for him. The same kindheartedness was also reflected from his treatment towards his friends, and it was definite that his close friends would trust him one hundred percent and even give up their lives for him.

On the other hand, some said that he was a hypocritical actor filled with greed and ambition. There were conspiracy theories accusing him of creating car accidents and burglaries to murder his business opponents and rivals, and when such ideas got published over the Internet, others all began their attempts of tying recent deaths with Johnson's recent business activities. It might be that Johnson established too much of an influence among the government organs, or it could be that these theories were false in the first place, but Johnson was never officially convicted of any crimes.

Right here, right now, in this auditorium of bloodbath, Johnson knew that people were seeing him as a monster.

This project originated with a good intention — to expand the boundaries of technology, to provide artificial intelligence with the power of creating art. Not only would humanity's creation be one more step towards perfection, but this could also bring humanity into computer programs, to allow both races to coexist. This whole project was an art in itself. The Sonata of Singularity was a perfect example of how machines could create beautiful things that humans would enjoy, but none of the people appreciated that when this exact same artwork was labeled as "made by AI".

Johnson knew that they were anxious because the ten percent of the workforce — the artists, the entertainers, the poets — they would be replaced by the newly enhanced AI. In a society like this, anyone without a job would be walking in an invisible, moving casket, and that was the daily life of the ninety percent of the population. However, Johnson believed that he could identify the roots of this crisis better than others.

The people were suffering poverty, but the society was wealthier than ever. Given the highly productive nature of machines and AIs, there was so much more produced than actually needed. Economists' research had already demonstrated that there the food production was of 25 times the minimum requirement to feed the global population, and the GDP had been continuing to grow in increasing acceleration, but the empirical evidence on people's daily lives had proven to be of stark contrast, as hunger and lack of shelter became a more and more common thing. Consequently, crime rate increased, trust deteriorated, and a negative spiral began.

Before the AI revolution took place, the world played by the 80/20 rule, where 80% of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of 20% of the population. However, this had gradually polarized into a 90/10 ratio, and it was still radicalizing. The giant economic gap had been the cause of all the suffering in the lower section of the hierarchy, and the ones in charge had been hesitant to take action because the government and major corporations all belonged to the 10 percent.

There was no way to revert this power flow anymore under the status quo, but that didn't mean there would be no hope. This new project that ArtTech worked on, the revolutionary enhancement that would replace the ten remaining percent of the workforce, would push the power concentration even further, up to 95/5, 97/3, and then eventually all the power would be compressed at the hands of a few corporations such as ArtTech and Hypersphere such that the external victims would be of enough size and pressure to crack down the ceilings of the hierarchy and compel the power holders to release their wealth and power to the ninety-nine percent of society.