Rebirth重生计划

When artificial intelligence replaces our job, what will we become? How should we face the new reality where we have little to contribute to society?

This might seem very far away, but in China, automation and AI have already started to displace the less privileged. A class of useless people, which is coined by the scholar Yuval Harrari in the book Homo Deus, is emerging on the streets of Shenzhen and they call themselves 三和大神/ Sanhe Gods.

The Sanhe gods were originally aspiring migrant workers from the countryside who came to Shenzhen aspiring to live a better life. However, most of them could not find a stable job and became Sanhe gods. The community has a culture of ‘work one day so that you can play for three days. They call themselves gods as they have transcended the desire for climbing up the social ladder, living a carefree life without goals nor aspirations.

With the AI revolution further widening the social gap, we can even expect those originally hard-working folks to get replaced by AI. A ‘useless class’ will begin to emerge and grow in society. Yuval Harari worries that the problem of the ‘useless class’ is not just the loss of jobs or income, but more of a sense of despair when you are locked out of the only perceived way of a meaningful life. You will lose your hope in life and find it harder and harder to get up in the morning to do anything. 

In response to the issue, I imagined a community for the Sanhe gods where they could have a new set of aspirations in life so that they can still live a purposeful life even after they are replaced by AI. This new community builds on the grounds of the Sanhe Talent Market, where every useless class can now have a new start to build his future. Since they are unable to progress in life by earning money, we can introduce another form of progression, which is in terms of social-credit scores through contribution to the community. 

The social credit system we have is very much like the quest and reward system in role-playing games. As players complete quests, they gain experience, level up, unlock new spaces and receive items to play the game better. Their ultimate reward for finishing the game is to upload their consciousness into the digital world where they could be whoever they want in virtual heaven.

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