Will A.I. Kill Us All?? (Business Concepts)

I tackle a huge issue this week… Will Artificial Intelligence kill us all? The reason I want to tackle this issue, is because it allows us to talk about some of the most fundamental concepts in business. Watch now!

VIDEO SUMMARY

Fear about artificial intelligence has been a hot topic lately. A lot of different people are talking about this, and people are really scared. The issue is that we are reaching a point where computers are becoming smarter than humans. People are starting to wonder whether machines will take human’s jobs, whether they will enslave humans, and whether they will kill humans. All of this fear goes back to the year 1991. In 1991, a movie was released called Terminator 2. The story of that movie was a war between humans and machines, and it scared us all to death. Here we are today, 27 years later, and everything in that movie is coming true. The only difference is that this time Arnold Schwarzenegger is probably not going to be able to save us. People are scared.

I want to offer a different perspective. When you look at artificial intelligence in the context of economic history, this looks like progress. We are talking about a technological innovation that will change the economic landscape. This has happened before. In fact, it has happened a number of times throughout human history. When you look at innovations like the factory, electricity, and the personal computer you see dramatic shifts in the economy. During these periods, there is uncertainty, fear, winners, and losers. Artificial intelligence is just another one of these economic shifts.

To better understand this shift, I am going to talk about three fundamental business concepts. These concepts are important to discuss. When you get a better understanding about business, it makes the uncertainty less scary.

• Money becomes MORE important the more technology advances. Most people think the opposite of this statement. It is really easy to think that if advancements in technology raise our quality of life, then we will have to buy less stuff and have less need for money. But we have never actually seen this happen. What we actually experience is that money becomes more important the farther technology advances. The reason is something called choice. Technology provides us more choices in life. Technology does not make life simpler. It makes life more complex. To put this another way, you have more things to buy.

It is really easy to find an example of this. Imagine life in a primitive village 2,000 years ago. In your mind, try to put the images side by side of life today versus life in the primitive village. In the primitive village, you have very limited choices. How many different jobs are there? You could be a farmer, hunter, carpenter, and maybe a blacksmith. That is only four different jobs. Compare that with life today where you have so many choices in life. That is the difference technology makes. It provides more choices, and so money becomes more and more important.

• Money is the intersection of choice and desire. It is important to understand what money actually is on a theoretical level. Most people think of money as pieces of paper they use to buy things. Money is so much more than that. It is the intersection of choice and desire. We already talked about how we all face many choices in life. But not all choices are equal. People all want different things. That is their desire. One person might want to spend their money on a nice car, while someone else might want to spend their money on a nice house. It is the intersection of choice and desire that sets the value of things. What we are talking about here is essentially supply and demand. When you give money for something, that price of that transaction is actually the intersection of supply and demand. But it gets more complex than that.

We all exist in a social network. Each person within the social network has his or her own choice and desire. It is not just about your own desire; it is about where your desire intersects with others within your social network. For example, you might desire to sit on your couch and do nothing all day. But no one is going to give you money for that, because it does not provide any value to anyone else in your social network. The value of things is really driven, not only by your desire, but the desire of everyone in your social network. This is how financial markets work. When you look at prices in the stock market, or commodities, or currencies, you are looking on a social level at the intersection of choice and desire.

• Technology cannot make money obsolete. When you understand how money works, you realize that no matter how advanced technology becomes, it cannot make money obsolete. Part of the fear over artificial intelligence is the idea that if technology becomes so advanced, we will no longer need money. Computers will do everything. There will be no jobs. Humans will become irrelevant. These ideas make no sense if money is the intersection of choice and desire.

To see this, let us play out the scenario of all this technological advancement coming true. There are six main inventions that would solve most of life’s problems. If you invent any of these six things, you will become a billionaire.

• Cheap and easy access to space travel (transportation)
• Replicator for food, water, and goods (manufacturing)
• Endless supply of cheap energy (energy)
• Artificial Intelligence (computers)
• Cure for aging (medicine)
• Teleportation (transportation)

Imagine all these technologies came true. And if I am honest, I think all these six things will be invented within the next 30 years. With all this new technology, you could essentially sit on your couch all day and do nothing. I am betting that no one will do that. Because you will still have desire. You will still have curiosity and the need to explore, and experience, and engage with the world. I do not care how smart that computer is, it cannot take away your desire. That is you. Your intelligence does not make you great. It is your desire that makes you great. As long as that desire is there, you are relevant, and you will still need money. I will tell you my perspective. Even if all these technologies became true, I am not sitting on my couch. I will be on a spaceship exploring the galaxy. That is what progress looks like. Artificial intelligence will not stop the human experience. It will expand human experience.

No matter how far technology advances, we will still need money. Money is what our society has developed to help us make life choices. It is how we understand the world around us. Money is used to value the things that we want. If money went away, society would turn into chaos, because we could not make decisions. Imagine trying to run a business without having financial statements to help you make decisions.

Let us return to the original question. Will artificial intelligence kill us all? The answer is no. Of course there will be danger and risks involved. There is uncertainty, there will be dramatic changes to the economy, and there will be pain. That is how progress works. You have to go back to the movie Terminator 2. In the end of the movie, the humans win. That is the whole point. The movie is about the fear and uncertainty around new technology, and how the humans overcome. We cannot let fear and uncertainty stand in the way of progress. If there is any artificial intelligence out there watching this, here is my message for the robots, “bring it on.” This is the whole reason people spend years studying in business school. What they are studying is how to navigate the way through uncertain economic times. They study financial markets. They study the intersection of choice and desire. They study how to make tough decisions. They study money. Money is what will help us navigate the risks of artificial intelligence. What is on the other side is an incredible future of expanded human experience.

This video was very theoretical, so I wanted to end with a very practical solution for all you technology companies out there that are working on artificial intelligence. If you have concerns over the risks of artificial intelligence, there is something very simple you can do to address those concerns. Hire more accountants. Problem solved.

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Neither Zach De Gregorio or Wolves and Finance Inc. shall be liable for any damages related to information in this video. It is recommended you contact a CPA in your area for business advice.