Writer Between Worlds

“Sprache ist so ein verlässliches Signal für unsere Statuszugehörigkeit, weil wir so wahnsinnig gut darin sind, Sprache zu lernen. Das heißt, unsere Sprache wird wirklich zur zweiten Natur, wird wirklich tief eingebaut in unserer Psyche.” (English translation: Language is such a reliable indicator of our social status because we are so incredibly good at learning language. This means that our language truly becomes second nature, deeply ingrained in our psyche.)

Hanno Sauer on Sternstunde Philosophie (SFR) about his book Klasse.

So, what happens to our social status, our psyche, our sense of self when we outsource language production, code interpretation, and reasoning to machines – and they turn out to be even more adept at using language, manipulating symbols and, implicitly, minds than we once were? Every time an AI replaces a human at their job, that person is robbed both of their financial independence and (at least partially) of their sense of purpose. They lose both money and meaning. How will they survive? What percentage of the population will be able to process this meaninglessness creatively and turn it into something positive? How will it feel to be handed out a basic income, at the mercy of companies and governments that no longer need you or your skills, as opposed to having earned it yourself through hard work and merit? How will that affect our negotiating power and our civil rights? How will idleness affect our self-esteem, mental health, social standing? Will be still be worth something – and to whom? Who or what will be in charge of public discourse, lawmaking and reasoning? Where will the money for the basic income come from and what can bridge the economic disparities AI is likely to generate? What will it do to our democracies to have an unprecedented consolidation of financial and informational power in the hands of a few companies that can afford to influence decisions in their favor – or flout rules entirely? What do you think?