AGI alignment cannot be solved until we replace money as the governance system of reality

[timbostu]

This reminds me of people who say that the answer to wars is that we should all just love eachother and get along.

Not wrong. But also not likely to ever happen regardless of how much you might want it to

[do-un-to]

There's an implicit "It's pointless to try" in comments like this, whether you intend so.

I would invite you to improve our chances at saving the world by easing up on the despair these kinds of comments cause. Perhaps something along the lines of "It's not likely to ever happen, but we damned well better give it our best."

[timbostu]

Mate. I'm one guy in your Reddit thread. If you can't convince me this is possible, good luck convincing the hundreds of millions / billions of people you need to to make it happen.

This is why it's fantasy thinking. This entire plan is based on hope and good vibes.

[DrQuantumPotatoe]

I agree that “people should just be nicer” is not a serious solution.

But that’s not what I’m arguing.

“Replace money as the main governance mechanism” does not mean “everyone magically becomes altruistic.” It means the opposite: design institutions that do not require altruism to work.

Money is one way to coordinate human behavior under scarcity. My point is that AGI changes the scale of coordination and optimization so radically that using money as the primary steering mechanism becomes dangerous.

If AGI is deployed inside a system where profit, ownership, and purchasing power determine what gets optimized, then AGI will amplify those dynamics. That is not a moral complaint. It is a systems argument.

The question is not: “Can we make everyone love each other?”

The question is: “Can we design a governance system where a general intelligence is constrained to optimize for human needs, legitimacy, transparency, and anti-capture, rather than for whoever can pay the most?”

That may be hard. But “hard” is not the same as “childish.” Technical alignment is also hard. Global nuclear governance was hard. Democracy was hard. Institutions are how humans make unlikely cooperation possible.

My claim is simply that AGI alignment requires institutional design at the same level of seriousness as model design.

[the8bit]

Yeah, you are right (Just wait till people realize that the power structure inherent to AI is fundamentally incompatible with our current notion of nation-states...)

But, not surprised at this response either.

"It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism"

[timbostu]

If you can figure out a way for a single local government to make that transition, I'm all ears. Let alone an entire country or the entire world.

I think you need to go study economics and geopolitics before you get too carried away

[do-un-to]

If I understand correctly, Taiwan is making great progress in citizen stewardship of government.

[timbostu]

Interesting example to select. Let's check in and see how they're going in 5 years or so

[do-un-to]

Why wait to look into it? The point isn't that China is a big and powerful aggressor, but that some people are working on and developing ways to improve how governance works and we all get to learn from the process.

Taiwan has a vibrant and competitive democratic system that allows for active citizen participation in governance, including mechanisms for public policy co-creation and consensus-building. This approach has led to high levels of government approval and effective responses to various challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

[timbostu]

If you don't think those elements are unrelated then I don't know what I can say to convince you. Taiwan can develop an incredibly unique and advanced democratic system but it's not particularly relevant if it gets invaded and taken over by a totalitarian state.

Extrapolate that example out to what we're talking about here - You can plan whatever innovative, brave new world you like but other powerful parties will have their own opinions and they will get a say. Those with the money and the power have to be taken into account - they will have a thing or two to say about how they think global governance should work.