"if we don't have child labour/slavery/no workplace rights/lax environment law/planning restrictions/data privacy law/... then we'll be outcompeted by those that don't"
unregulated AI fits in there perfectly
these persisted for so long because of economics over ethics... maybe we'll make the correct decision this time
(separately: if we do get to AGI then the slavery comparison suddenly gains an extra dimension... as that's literally what its operators will be doing)
I agree the last/separate point has interesting/complex ethical implications.
But in terms of the first point - the ethics of forcing someone into labour are just not the same as automating peoples work.
Although some people do genuinely enjoy their work, most people work because they are forced to (pay for shelter, food and a good life for their kids). Not forced in the same way as slavery, but there is still mostly a requirement to work in modern society.
It’s one thing asking people to do tasks that are valuable to society, but asking people to do jobs they hate which could be easily automated in the future just for the sake of them “being in a job” seems pointless as a society level to me. Why would we have people doing things they hate that don’t really deliver ‘real’ value because we could automate it and have them do something else? (Preferably something they hate less).
"if we don't have child labour/slavery/no workplace rights/lax environment law/planning restrictions/data privacy law/... then we'll be outcompeted by those that don't"
unregulated AI fits in there perfectly
these persisted for so long because of economics over ethics... maybe we'll make the correct decision this time
(separately: if we do get to AGI then the slavery comparison suddenly gains an extra dimension... as that's literally what its operators will be doing)