A Psalm for the Wild-Built (July 2022)

[Rossdavidh]

Well, it's in the distant past, so we don't know the details of how it came about. Imagine if our computers all became AI. We would probably be freaked out, and then the idea of giving them half the planet, on the condition that they stay over there and be nice and not come Terminator us, might sound totally plausible (especially if the planet still had lots of room on it, which it sounds like this one did).

Did we hear much about their economy? Given that Dex was a monk (and thus might not have participated in the market economy even if they had one), I don't recall the economic system coming up. I had the impression the tea thing was set up at a town market of some sort.

[Ryan]

Lena wrote: "Everyone, every single person, just decided independent autonomous robots were a fine thing and gave up half the planet for them."

I don't have a problem with this particular point. Robots become conscious and decide they don't want to work? I wouldn't push them, could be dangerous. And apparently these humans have stable demographics so don't need the whole planet, so it's not really giving much up.

I guess the remaining question is why not design robots that won't develop a consciousness? Guess they're satisfied with the life they have now. It's a pretty stagnant planet, it seems.