It's always been like this. For a brief period over the last century, we had the illusion of social mobility, that we were headed towards a more meritocratic society. But it was always that: an illusion. AI is not even a reversion to the mean, just a disillusionment.
>I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
Addendum: Drowned out amongst millions of AI augmented voices.
Yes, the industrial revolution made labor competitive enough to bargain. The computer, internet and now AI revolutions have chipped away at this since the 70s. Power and wealth accumulation has never been higher.
Only if you view in black/white absolutist terms where if every single person isn't on 100% merit then it doesn't count at all.
But the only thing this argument achieves is making the people actively causing or cheerleading the damage feel better about what they are doing. For everyone else, it's a massive regression.
