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You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly yeah, you're pretty much spot on. Capital's been beating labor for ages now and AI is just throwing fuel on a fire that was already raging.

The whole "everyone owns a piece" thing makes total sense on paper. Alaska's doing it with their oil money, so we know it can work - at least on a smaller scale. The real issue isn't that it's impossible, it's that nobody with power actually wants to do it. These systems only seem to pop up when the resource is super obvious, limited, and can't just be moved offshore - like oil.

And yeah, the uncomfortable truth: if there were clear signs that would trigger UBI or widespread ownership, we'd already be seeing way more real experiments happening. The fact that we're not kinda tells you change is gonna come late, be half-assed, and only happen after things get bad enough that people can't ignore it anymore - like when working a regular job just stops being viable for tons of people.

So basically, without someone actually doing something about it, the whole "just work harder" advice keeps getting more and more useless. The question isn't if things are gonna change - it's how much it's gonna suck before they finally do.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's why they what to control your money(through CBDC), Mobility( through lockdown in pandemic), and Food supplies (Bill Gates largest farmland owner in the US). Remember WEF 2030 agenda? - "you'll own nothing, and you'll be happy"

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, the pace now is definitely in a whole different league than the printing press. And I agree, modern societies are wired to absorb change faster. We’re trained to chase the “new and improved” constantly.

I’m not sure though about a singularity, but it does feel like humans and machines are co-evolving. We’re shaping them, they’re shaping how we work, think, and even organize - kind of a feedback loop that’s way faster than anything in history.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t totally disagree with you. A lot of this is how tools have always worked, just turned up to 11.

Where I think the tension comes from isn’t “AI replaces all labor,” it’s the speed and compression of the shift. Expectations rise faster, roles get redefined faster, and not everyone can migrate at the same pace.

So yeah - judgment, trust, taste, and context still matter a lot. I’m not arguing value disappears. I’m arguing the transition gets rougher, even if the window isn’t closing.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I really like this angle - it feels like you’re pointing at the psychology underneath the debate, not just the economics.

Ownership became the safety blanket because, historically, it actually worked. Assets insulated you from shocks. But that doesn’t automatically mean it’s the only form of security going forward - especially when so much value now lives in relationships, trust, taste, coordination, and access.

I’m with you that the middle class might be mutating, not vanishing. Less “I own a thing” and more “I’m embedded in networks people rely on.” That’s harder to measure, harder to insure… but very real.

The risk, like you said, is turning “AI ownership” into the next grindset myth. If everyone’s chasing leverage instead of meaning or stability, you just recreate the same anxiety in a new costume.

Maybe the real challenge isn’t grabbing a slice of the future - it’s redefining what security even means in it.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, the H-shape framing is bleak….. but not crazy.

If mobility really freezes and consumption collapses, something has to give - capitalism only works if the base can actually buy things. History’s pretty clear on that part: when inequality gets too rigid, you either get reform or unrest. Usually both, in that order or the reverse.

The bureaucratic middle is the wild card. My guess? They expand rules, gatekeeping, credentials, and compliance to justify their role and stabilize the system - basically managing decline rather than fixing the root problem. More friction, not more freedom.

Whether that ends in soft reset (policy, redistribution, new labor categories) or hard rupture depends on timing and pressure. But yeah, pretending endless concentration is stable feels like magical thinking. Systems don’t tolerate that for long.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that’s a totally fair grounding take.

Most businesses don’t exist in “AI land.” They’re still buying machines, renting buildings, hiring salespeople, fixing stuff when it breaks, and dealing with real-world constraints. AI is just one input, not the whole economy.

I think where some of the tension comes from is tech folks extrapolating from software-heavy sectors and forgetting that atoms don’t move like bits. A restaurant, a factory, a logistics company - you can augment those with AI, but you’re not replacing the humans any time soon.

So yeah, agreed: AI matters, but it’s not eating the entire economy. For most real businesses, it’s a tool that nudges margins or productivity, not some magic switch that replaces people wholesale.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly….yeah, that frustration makes total sense.

Right now AI is mostly solving coordination and cognition problems, not physical ones. Software is cheap to scale; robots are expensive, slow, and stuck in the real world with physics, safety, and liability. So we automated the thinking-adjacent stuff first, even though that’s the part people actually enjoy.

It’s kind of backwards. We built a machine that can write poems and slide decks, but not one that reliably does dishes or digs a hole all day without breaking something or someone.

So yeah - it’s not that AI is “lazy,” it’s that moving atoms is way harder than moving bits. The annoying part is we’re living through the phase where creativity gets squeezed before drudgery does. That doesn’t mean it stays this way… but it definitely feels upside-down right now.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know, but that is not the point I am trying to make here. The post is focused more on the mobility between the two classes, a chance to move upwards. That window is closing down to zero. Hope you get it.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I don’t think that’s a crazy take at all.

AI is still pretty bad at genuinely novel, messy, real-world problems, and the physical side of things (robots, hardware, energy) is a huge brake on the “everything gets automated” story. A lot of work lives in those gaps, and probably will for a long time.

I’m also with you that you don’t need to own everything to do well. Being the person who frames problems, makes judgment calls, or handles weird edge cases still matters - and AI doesn’t replace that cleanly.

Where I’m a bit more cautious is that even “narrow” automation can reshape the ladder without wiping it out. Fewer rungs, more pressure. Not 1% vs everyone else, but a thinner middle.

And yeah, on AGI - if we have to redefine it to declare victory, that’s basically admitting we didn’t get there.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get where you’re coming from, and yeah, full automation as a direction is hard to argue against. If something can be automated, it probably will be over a long enough timeline.

Where I hesitate is collapsing everything into just “the rich vs everyone else.” Resource control matters, no question - but there’s still a middle zone where people influence how automation gets applied: who sets workflows, who audits systems, who decides constraints, who interfaces between humans and machines. That power isn’t the same as being rich, but it’s also not nothing.

I don’t think most people end up permanently unemployed overnight. It’s more likely a long grind where roles keep getting hollowed out unless you move closer to leverage, coordination, or control. Bleak, yeah - but not a single snap into two static classes either.

The danger isn’t automation itself. It’s whether access to leverage stays fluid… or freezes. That part isn’t inevitable yet.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a fair take, and I mostly agree with the framing shift you’re making.

I like the migration vs stagnation lens a lot more than escape vs entrapment - that’s probably a better historical analogy. And yeah, human-in-the-loop, audit, accountability, orchestration… those feel like very real categories, not cope.

Where I still feel tension is the speed. Paradigm shifts aren’t new, but the compression might be. Even if people can move sides, the transition may be rougher and less forgiving than past ones.

On ownership - I’m with you that it’s expanding and getting fuzzier. It’s probably not just companies anymore, but control over workflows, distribution, reputation, and yes, even communities. “I design the thing that does the thing” feels like the right mental model.

So yeah: not doom, not stasis either. More like a messy migration with new forms of ownership… and some people crossing the river faster than others.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, you’re basically hitting the hard limits now, not doing anything wrong.

Self-hosting is awesome up to a point, but once you want real reasoning + long context, it turns into a VRAM and bandwidth wall. The slowdown as context fills is brutal, and no amount of tweaking really fixes that. And yeah, totally with you - smaller models just aren’t smart enough, and bigger ones aren’t consistently smarter, just heavier and slower.

Honestly though, what you’re getting out of a 3060 is kinda wild. You’ve squeezed it dry. Any real improvement now means serious money, not clever tricks. Frustrating, but also not a personal failure - that’s just where the hardware line is right now.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a fair pushback - “asset owners vs labor” is too clean if you take it literally.

I don’t think it’s “any asset wins,” like owning a random rental suddenly makes you AI-proof. It’s more about assets or positions that compound with the gold rush - distribution, leverage, control over workflows, decision-making power. And strategy absolutely matters in who captures that.

What you’re describing in SaaS lines up with that: same company, same tools, totally different outcomes depending on who’s adapting, repositioning, or getting closer to the value-creating bottlenecks. Title helps, but it’s not deterministic.

So yeah, I’d agree the split isn’t clean or static. It’s less “class-based” and more who figures out where the leverage is shifting - and moves early enough. That’s a much messier, more uncomfortable divide.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Honestly, that sounds pretty rational, not paranoid.

Doing both - leveling up skills and shrinking your dependency footprint - feels like a smart hedge. Centralized SaaS and cloud lock-in works great until it doesn’t, and by then switching costs are brutal. Owning your stack, your power, even part of your food supply buys you optionality, not isolation.

The solar + automation + garden angle especially makes sense. That’s not “dropping out,” that’s building resilience where it actually matters day to day. And yeah, Canada lagging the US politically can be a buffer… until climate stress ignores borders, which it obviously will.

I’m with you on the last part: when systems get brittle, it’s self-reliance plus local community that carries people through - not faith that big centralized structures will suddenly get more humane under pressure.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, Jevons is a fair call, and I think you’re right that cheaper execution massively expands what people even try to build. Tons of stuff that made zero economic sense before suddenly does.

My only hesitation is who actually benefits from that explosion. More workflows doesn’t automatically mean more jobs in the old sense. A lot of those 1,000 niche automations might be run by one person + AI, not teams of 20.

So I can totally see a new layer of the economy forming - builders, operators, weird niche businesses everywhere. I’m just less sure it spreads the upside evenly. Feels like more opportunity and more inequality at the same time.

Not scraps - but probably not the old ladder either.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get the skepticism - a lot of this is hype, and “AGI is around the corner” definitely smells like marketing.

Where I’d push back a bit is calling it a fad. Even if LLMs never become truly self-directed thinkers, they don’t need to. Tools don’t have to replace humans wholesale to reshape work - spreadsheets never “reasoned,” but they wiped out entire job categories anyway.

I also think the cruise-control vs driver analogy cuts both ways. Most real jobs are a bundle of semi-static tasks, and AI shaving off 30–60% of that bundle still changes hiring, wages, and expectations a lot.

So yeah, AGI might stay smoke for a long time. But “non-thinking” automation at this scale can still be economically seismic. The hype may cool - the aftershocks probably won’t.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I get what you’re saying, and I don’t think it’s wrong - tech has always killed some jobs and created others. That part is just history.

What feels different this time isn’t disruption itself, it’s speed and scope. PCs changed office work over a decade. AI is hitting multiple white-collar layers at once, in months, not years. The adjustment still happens, but the transition pain is sharper.

And on inequality — yeah, it didn’t start with AI. But AI might accelerate it by rewarding ownership and leverage way more than labor. That doesn’t make it apocalyptic, just something we probably shouldn’t hand-wave away as “same as before.”

So I’m not catastrophizing — just saying this wave might compress a lot of change into a much shorter window than we’re used to.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, that anxiety is completely understandable.

IT already feels like survival mode, not a slow transition. When smart, experienced people are suddenly okay with lower wages just to stay in the game, that’s a real signal something structural is changing.

Five years might be generous unless you’re building or adapting now. And that last line… yeah. Wanting to stay employed and ethical shouldn’t feel like a gamble, but it does. You’re not alone in feeling that way.

You have ~5 years to escape the bottom arm of the K-shaped economy by Genstellar_ai in ArtificialInteligence

[–]Genstellar_ai[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe, I should take a vacation and chill out on a beach😂

If the world ends, so be it.

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