The Techno Contract

A couple of weeks ago, I ran into the term "Techno-Feudalism," bare and all but devoid of context.  It was in this Reddit post on /r/Futurology.  Like all red blooded Reddit browsers, I did not actually read the post, just the headline.  But the term stuck with me.  What is it? What do I think it is and what is it actually?

What I Thought Techno-Feudalism Was

Upon seeing the term, I had this immediate vision of a robot lounging in a throne, dispensing justice to human serfs.  Cyberpunk castles perch upon crags overlooking fields tilled by struggling, barely clothed humans.

With a little reflection (but still not reading anything about it), I washed those images from my frontal cortex.  Techno-Feudalism denotes neither 'justice' or 'toil'.  Instead, the phrase started me thinking of beggars lining up at the docks of some monstrous factory, waiting for their daily allotment of output. Meanwhile, the owner of the factory stands, fists on his hips, staring down from the picture windows of his control office.  Much more Atlas Shrugged than Game of Thrones.

What Techno-Feudalism Actually Is

Upon actually reading some about it, especially this New Yorker article from December, 2016 (so not too old), that second image may not be that far off.

The first world is already hugely dependent on technology.  Without it, not only do we lose contact with all but our physically closest friends and family, but food will no longer show up on our grocery story shelves, much less on our plates.  Our water systems, electrical grids, traffic control systems (land, water and air), even our lattes are all dependent on some level of automation, on computers.  Some of us can't even get into our homes if the electricity goes out.

The techno dependence is not necessarily 'bad'.  Those thinking we need to revert to simpler times are forgetting that simpler times were both harder on each individual and are no longer able to handle the increased population.  Technology, in this sense, streamlines things.  It makes more of the available resources and distributes it more efficiently.

No, it's not the technology that contains a moral imperative, but the owners of that technology.  Those that control.  Initially, this may very well be the Bezos's and Pages and Brins of this world.  But they will only be in control until their own technology takes over from them in stages:

1. First Artificial Applied Intelligence designed around the Executive role, able to make decisions around corporate direction without having to worry about anything else (though that is still a lot).
2. Then Artificial General Intelligence that can do all of that but also see the implications for a broader world, though still at a level that a base line human can see it.
3. Finally, it gets handed off the Artificial Super Intelligence that does not think like we do (if the first two stages really will).  Instead, its decisions will be opaque to even the most advanced human minds.  Even those that make them (though that's a ways off still).

Then, even if companies implement a CAIO (Chief AI Officer), it will be the machines in charge.  Will they be closer the the Minds in an Iain Banks novel, or something more like Skynet?  Are those the only two options?  Maybe Super Intelligent AI will be indifferent to the human condition, feeding, housing and caring for us with little attention to the end result.

Techno-Contract

I don't know the answers to those last few questions.  What I'm fairly certain of is that we will be dependent on AI in the very near future.  As dependent as we currently are on transportation in the first world.  It will be running/controlling everything including our governments (even if there are still humans nominally in charge).

This will have as big an effect on our society as Rule of Law did, or Democracy (as a concept, more than any actual implementation).  It will cause us to rethink the Social Contract between government and citizen.  Who is protecting who and to what end?

And by 'us', I really mean the expert system in charge of enforcing the laws.  I'm with Ken Jennings.