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Embrace the Machine: AI, Robotics, and the Coming Transition

The Spark

Today I watched some interesting videos about robotics, AI, and the transition period we are going to have that will completely put capitalism as we know it in an existential crisis. Let’s dive into it.

It started with Cold Fusion’s video on the rapid advancement of robotics. Who would have thought that robots would be more affordable than a new car? That’s incredible considering that humanoid robots have not been in the domain of consumers. Things have instantly changed, and we are now witnessing something magical. The blend between AI and robotics is coming together.

“Embrace the Machine”

I have been telling many people who would listen: “Embrace the Machine.” AI is not going anywhere, and it is only going to get better. You can bet on many things, but bet on AI and take the next steps in your life accordingly.

If you know that AI is going to be running companies in the next 3 years, you should be starting an AI-native company and testing out AI solutions to become your future employees. If you know that robots will be in every home in the next 5 years, start thinking about how you can build applications on top of that economy or even provide services if that’s what you want to do.

I would optimise for products over services in this day and age. You have to ride the revenue wave of the new applications that will be created and implemented in the real world using AI.

No Human Need Apply

As we embrace the machine, it will become very clear that no human need apply in the job economy. Many of the top-tier models have an IQ of 110. The average IQ of human beings is 90. Most people cannot compete.

When AI starts moving from knowledge work, which most of the middle class relies on, to manual labour, it will be catastrophic. Knowledge work or white-collar work is where most of the middle class resides. This is what AI is getting very good at, and most people will not be able to compete.

With the merger of robots, even blue-collar jobs will not be safe. Imagine having an intelligent robot that doesn’t eat, sleep, complain, and only needs energy and maintenance. That will be cheaper, easier to deal with, and more competent than every human being.

The best position a human being can be in is telling the AI what to do. Caveat: even this will change, because human beings cannot reason and make logical decisions as fast as AI. In fact, the best position for a human being is to either own the company and let his autonomous mechatronic workforce do its thing or get out of the bloody way.

The rest can simply be unemployed. However, I do see a situation where the best blue-collar and white-collar workers will be those who can use AI the best and direct their metallic counterparts. This means that the people who will dominate the short- and medium-term future will be the people who can use AI the best.

My Theory of Automation

It is about time that I wrote about this analogy which I keep telling people. This is my theory of automation using an analogy. The theory, which should be a law, is that automation opens up more work that can, needs, and should have been done, but could not, because of human limitations.

Take the example of the tea plantations in Kericho. How many times have we heard the tea pickers resisting automation? Every time a machine has been brought to pick tea, they have threatened to burn the farm down. Fine, they are trying to keep their jobs, but the unfortunate thing is that the machine is—or will get—better at picking tea at a cheaper price than them. They are going against the tide of history, and that is not a good position to be in.

The Tea Farm Example

Let’s say you are a tea farmer and you have 10 acres of tea. There are 2 scenarios to choose from:

  1. Employ 10 people who take 1 day to pick tea leaves from 1 acre, meaning it will take 10 days to pick all the tea.

  2. Employ 1 person with a machine who takes 1 day to pick tea leaves from 1 acre, meaning it will take 10 days to pick all the tea.

Most people only see the 2 scenarios because they think in a zero-sum way. However, there is a 3rd option:

  1. Employ 10 people with machines who take 1 day to pick tea leaves from 10 acres, meaning it will take 1 day to pick all the tea.

This scenario unlocks a lot of potential. If the farmer had 1000 acres of tea, your harvest capacity would not be limited by how many human beings you have, but by how many machines controlled by people you can deploy. These machines and their operators can then become consultants for different tea farms.

The Uber Problem

However, it presents a problem which we Kenyans, and the world at large, have experienced. When something is democratised and made abundant, the cost of that service plummets.

The classic example is Uber. So many Uber drivers will tell you how they are paid poorly and how they are struggling to make ends meet. Because Uber democratized getting into the taxi business by opening up the market to more consumers, more people joined and it saturated the market. Competition increased, and therefore no one makes a profit in the end—except Uber and the banks that are lending car loans.

The model of automation only works when you are the business, not the operator. Most people need to stop being the operator and become the business owner.

The Future of Work

In my view, the safest roles will be:

Hospitality will be harder to automate—people who go on safari want to disconnect, not see another robot.

The Economic Crisis

It also brings up an important point that will shake the foundations of the economy.

Money is the representation of the energy produced by people who work. It allows you to trade your work for goods and services. But what happens when most people don’t have a job and therefore aren’t earning money?

Who will buy the goods and services that machines create? We may end up with abundance but no money to buy it. Goods might go to near zero in cost, but before that happens, there will be a painful transition. Jobs will vanish, wages will vanish, and yet prices may still rise due to inflation and wealth accumulation at the top.

This transition will be one of pain, conflict, and competition over work, resources, and meaning. It will not be pretty.

Possible Solutions

Based on this video featuring Emad Mostaque (creator of Stable Diffusion), and my own ideas:

  1. Restructure Capitalism:
    Move away from a currency magically created by a small group of people. Introduce universal tokens linked to human beings, distributed as a form of UBI.

  2. Tax AI Companies:
    Companies using AI should contribute a portion of value creation back to society through universal basic income.

  3. Mandatory Human Quotas:
    Laws could require companies to hire a minimum number of humans based on revenue, though this may not be sustainable long-term.

  4. Fund Human Projects:
    Direct AI-generated wealth into exploration, frontier science, climate change, healthcare, and community development—projects that machines alone cannot care about.

Final Word

Anyway, I think that everyone should embrace the machine. We are living in exciting times, and I don’t think one person or any group of people can figure out where this is going. We can only predict and work on making our predictions a reality.

The most dangerous position you can be in at this time is to be a bystander and observer of the killer things that are taking place right now. You would be foolish to do so, and ignorance is not an excuse anymore.

You have a laptop, a phone, and an internet connection. If you get cooked, it is on you.