Unhinged Ghouls At 'Unherd' Salivate Over Idea Of Democrats Losing Jobs To AI
Is this ... cancel culture?
There is a lot that is creepy about AI itself, but far more disturbing than the actual technology has been the words coming out of the actual, non-AI, mouths of those who are especially excited about it. This is actually quite impressive given the fact that we are talking about a technology that destroys the planet and steals the creative work of actual human beings in order to make soulless robot art. (Among other really bad things.)
For instance, just last week, Sir Nick Clegg, former deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom/former head of Global Affairs for Meta, whined that being required to ask for permission from artists to use their work would “kill” the AI industry.
“Quite a lot of voices say, ‘You can only train on my content, [if you] first ask’. And I have to say that strikes me as somewhat implausible because these systems train on vast amounts of data,” Clegg said at an event promoting his new book.
“I just don’t know how you go around, asking everyone first. I just don’t see how that would work,” he added. “And by the way if you did it in Britain and no one else did it, you would basically kill the AI industry in this country overnight.”
And yet, nothing of value would be lost!
Are we meant to be sad for the people who won’t be able to steal other people’s work in order to have robots make “art” for them? Or are we meant to be sad for those who won’t be able to profit quite as much from stealing other people’s work? I guess both?
There’s no question that a lot of the Right’s thirst for generative AI is explicitly related to the fact that artists (good ones, anyway) tend to be left-leaning, and they see this as the ultimate way to “own the libs.” You see this sentiment a lot on Xitter and right-wing message boards. A lot of “You looked down on us for being terrible bigots, and now we don’t need you anymore!” and excitement surrounding the idea of being able to make individualized movies and television shows that align with their beliefs and values rather than those of people in “Hollyweird.”
The latest example of this can be found on “Unherd,” the supposedly “heterodox” website that somehow almost always finds itself on the side of “The Left is Bad, For Reasons.”
In an article titled “AI could turn Democrats into the new welfare class,” Joel Kotkin notes that college-educated people are the base of the Democratic Party and that there is a multi-pronged “assault” on the mere concept of education and on the jobs of college-educated workers. He does not seem especially bothered by this!
The losers in the AI revolution so far, he notes, have been “college professors, administrators, lawyers, accountants, and psychologists,” as well as those looking for entry-level work that requires a college degree and Hollywood creators, whom he notes tend to be more liberal.
The “winners,” he says, will be “those professions that use AI to build things, such as drones, spaceships and robots,” noting that those jobs are not in Silicon Valley, where the bad liberals are, but rather in places like Texas.
This is a huge opportunity for Texas in particular, since the state has always been oriented towards tangible engineering. Texas may have missed the social media boom, but its industrial legacy has left it well placed to dominate the “deep tech” builder space. This field often requires reliable and affordable energy — something not easy to get in states such as California or New York.
The other winners, in keeping with the current right-wing zeitgeist, will be those doing physical labor.
Beyond elite AI engineers, the other likely winners may be those in physical, hands-on jobs — mechanics or oil rig workers — that are much harder to automate. AI pioneer Rony Abovitz told me that the big winner in the coming years will be the “sophisticated, technically capable blue-collar worker”. Young people might be better off ignoring Joe Biden’s famous advice to “learn to code” and instead consider trade schools which teach practical, in-demand skills.
And, notably, not learning bad, woke ideas that will upset their parents and cause them to vote for Democrats.
Now, Kotkin is not lamenting the fact that millions of Americans might lose their jobs to this technology — rather, he comes bearing a warning! A warning to not respond to all of those people losing their jobs by suggesting something like a Universal Basic Income.
So, what can the Democrats do? For one thing, they might embrace a new welfarism designed to prop up the once-ascendant educated classes. Already, talk of a guaranteed income has gained support from oligarchs including Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, former Uber boss Travis Kalanick, and AI guru Sam Altman. The old meme of the welfare mom could be replaced by the demand to sustain the unemployed coder, screenwriter, paralegal or accountant.
If Democrats choose this path, they risk entrenching a new kind of dependency — one rooted not in poverty, but in the disillusionment of a class stripped of its economic purpose.
He doesn’t go further in explaining this — but he doesn’t have to. He ends the essay here, leaving the “if they were good people, they’d realize learning is bad and dangerous and just do physical labor instead!” unsaid.
Kotkin, by the way, is the author of a book titled The New Class Conflict, which posited that America is devolving into four classes meant to mirror the feudalism of the Middle Ages. It’s more or less the usual breakdown of the upper, middle and lower classes, with the addition of a “class” that he calls the “clerisy,” which exists independent of economics.
Via USAToday:
The oligarchs are assisted in their control by what Kotkin calls the “clerisy” class — an amalgam of academics, media and government employees who play the role that medieval clergy once played in legitimizing the powerful, and in implementing their policies while quelling resistance from the masses. The clerisy isn't as rich as the oligarchs, but it does pretty well for itself and is compensated in part by status, its positions allowing even its lower-paid members to feel superior to the hoi polloi.
It’s hardly original. While the Left tends to view the “elites” as those with actual wealth and power, the Right, particularly the populist Right, tends to rage against “cultural elites” whom they are angry at for supposedly “thinking they’re better” than conservatives. Do those people think they are better than we are? Of course they do! They never shut up about it. The difference is, we’re not seething about it. We don’t give a shit unless they’re actively oppressing people (which, unfortunately, is frequently their raison d’etre).
But it’s clear that Kotkin views this as our righteous comeuppance — as does his audience. The comments on the post are something else.
Isn’t the ultimate goal of the progressive wing of the Democratic party to create a universal welfare state with lots of workers dependent on the state for survival? That way they’ll control the population and what it can say and do.
Of course, innovation and entrepreneurism will die.
Yes, that is absolutely what we want, J Bryant. You’ve got us!
Reader Jim M was delighted by the idea of destroying the “creative class.”
I am so glad this is happening. The “creative class” is not so necessary and can be automated out of existence. Enjoy what the blue-collar people have to deal with. The mantra now will be “learn how to fabricate.”
Let us not forget, by the way, who it was that sent those “physical labor” manufacturing jobs overseas, because it wasn’t leftists or creatives, okay? It was executives at major corporations who, you know, don’t exactly tend to be liberal anti-capitalists.
Another literally used the word “comeuppance.”
Hilarious. We’ve gone from learn to code to learn to plumb/hairdress/nurse/paint. Got to love some of the comeuppance.
My favorite, however, given all the talk in the rest of the comments about how progressives are authoritarians, was commenter Michael Schelp’s excitement over the idea of physical labor as a means to control the populace.
UBI? Not a fan. I think Pharaohs construct pyramids as a means of engaging and employing the populace. To prevent rebellion. To quote AI…
The proverb “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” is a cautionary saying that means if you have nothing to do, you’re more likely to get into trouble. It suggests that staying busy and productive is a way to avoid negative influences or bad behavior.”
Well, at least he’s honest.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
“I just don’t know how you go around, asking everyone first. I just don’t see how that would work”
That’s called fucking COPYRIGHT LAW, and that’s actually how it works.
If AI actually worked, I might be concerned.