From Peak Horse to Peak Human: How AI Could Replace Us (with Calum Chace)

On this episode, Calum Chace joins me to discuss the transformative impact of AI on employment, comparing the current wave of cognitive automation to historical technological revolutions. We talk about "universal generous income", fully-automated luxury capitalism, and redefining education with AI tutors. We end by examining verification of artificial agents and the ethics of attributing consciousness to machines.  

Learn more about Calum's work here: https://calumchace.com  

Timestamps:  

00:00:00  Preview and intro 

00:03:02  Past tech revolutions and AI-driven unemployment 

00:05:43  Cognitive automation: from secretaries to every job 

00:08:02  The “peak horse” analogy and avoiding human obsolescence 

00:10:55  Infinite demand and lump of labor 

00:18:30  Fully-automated luxury capitalism 

00:23:31  Abundance economy and a potential employment cliff 

00:29:37  Education reimagined with personalized AI tutors 

00:36:22  Real-world uses of LLMs: memory, drafting, emotional insight 

00:42:56  Meaning beyond jobs: aristocrats, retirees, and kids 

00:49:51  Four futures of superintelligence 

00:57:20  Conscious AI and empathy as a safety strategy 

01:10:55  Verifying AI agents 

01:25:20  Over-attributing vs under-attributing machine consciousness