@dalias @glyph It's not necessarily brain rot. Humans are pretty good at optimization. We're also not great at picking the right thing to optimize on. For the last 200 years or so, most of western society has optimized on wealth; specifically, individual wealth. That creates perverse incentives to do all kinds of things that are good for an individual but terrible for society at large. Some examples just in my lifetime: Cigarettes. Oil (and petrochemicals in general). Cryptocurrencies. Until the various world societies as a whole decide to reorganize and start optimizing on things that benefit the whole over the individual, we will always be subject to empty promises of quick easy wealth. That's *incredibly* easy to manipulate because it pits individuals against each other. Honestly, just like mechanical automation, AI (once it matures) has the potential to make society so much better. We no longer need a fleet of people to pick a field of crops; for many crops, a single person can harvest it in an afternoon. The same work getting done with fewer people *should* free up people to do other things: make art, help people who need it, etc. We can, and do, produce the same amount of resources for basic necessities with far fewer people than we did 80 years ago. Unfortunately, with our current capitalist priorities, in the current system it's only going to widen the wealth gap and hurt a lot of people. We choose not to provide a minimum level of support for basic needs, so people starve while others throw out food. it's pretty f*cked up, when you think about it, but it's never going to change without a massive cultural shift. Frankly, I'm not sure we're capable of such a thing.