When AIs become consumers

"The way they do that is with an induced form of "disaster capitalism," where they intentionally crash the economy in order to have some control over what remains. So the function of tariffs, for example, is to bankrupt businesses or even public services in order to privatize and then control them. Stall imports, put the ports out of business, and then let a sovereign wealth fund purchase the ports."

"Or as is happening right now: Use tariffs to bankrupt soybean farmers, who have to foreclose on their farms so that a private equity firm can purchase the farmland as a distressed asset, then hire the farmers who used to own and work that land as sharecroppers. The über-wealthy, in collaboration with the current White House administration, are engaged in a controlled demolition of this civilization because they realize the pyramid is collapsing."

"Keep up to date on the latest trends on how AI is reshaping culture and business, through the critical lens of human agency. It's no coincidence that AI is emerging at this same moment in our civilization's history. As Lewis Mumford observed, new technologies are often less the cause of societal changes than they are the result. Culture is like a standing wave, creating a vacuum or readiness for a new medium or technology."

The ultra-wealthy believe impending scarcity necessitates accumulating vast money and land to secure futures. They deploy an induced form of disaster capitalism to intentionally destabilize the economy and control remaining assets. Policies like tariffs are used to bankrupt businesses and public services so those assets can be privatized by sovereign funds or private equity. Agricultural producers are targeted so farmland becomes distressed assets and former owners can be rehired as sharecroppers. Wealth consolidation is paired with efforts to acquire armed force presence and normalize its deployment. Artificial intelligence is emerging amid cultural readiness rather than as the sole cause of these structural transformations.

Read at Fast Company