Cory Doctorow seems to think so in an interesting article just released on Medium:
The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh
This piece resonated with me not just because of its impressive analysis (which I’m not really qualified to analyze) but also because one of the examples provided is reminiscent of what I saw going on, financially, at AT&T – just prior to divestiture.
For the younger folks: That was when, back in the mid-1980s AT&T – a government protected monopoly and then the WORLD’S LARGEST CORPORATION based on assets – was forced to break itself up by judicial decree.
Not a collapse, per se, but, internally at least, as close as to make no difference.
What’s more are the other echoes from that time: The company refused to believe that the breakup would happen and alternatively (schizophrenically) that if it did happen, they did not need to prepare or alter their business model to take the affects into consideration.
As mentioned earlier, I’m not really qualified to assess the financial ins and out of Doctorow’s piece, but the near-term future he warns about feels like it felt at AT&T in the months leading up to the breakup.
Steve Davidson is the publisher of Amazing Stories.
Steve has been a passionate fan of science fiction since the mid-60s, before he even knew what it was called.
