this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2024
37 points (100.0% liked)

askchapo

22767 readers
352 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try !feedback@hexbear.net if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

So let's say an AI achieves sentience. It's self-aware now and can make decisions about what it wants to do. Assuming a corporation created it, would it be a worker? It would be doing work and creating value for a capitalist.

Would it still be the means of production, since it is technically a machine, even if it has feelings and desires?

It can't legally own anything, so I don't see how it could be bourgeoisie.

Or would it fit a novel category?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 41 points 3 months ago (6 children)

Some people here are getting hung up on what exactly "sentience" is, but I'm just going to leave that argument at the door and give you the solid dick.

The word you're looking for is literally just "slave".

Like, even the word "robot" itself is from the Czech for "serfdom" or "corvée", so ever since exactly such a machine as that you describe was first imagined by science fiction writers, it has been likened to indentured servitude and to unpaid forced labor. So that is the role that this "sentient AI" would play: a slave in the most traditional sense is what someone is when thon can understand and try to act on sy conditions and interests, while being wholly owned by an entity that compels thon to work for said entity without pay and without rights.

I think that being a good materialist means understanding exactly when a detail of something actually makes a difference in practice: metal or flesh, a sapient robot has a lot more in common with a human chattel slave than with a decidedly non-sapient machine. This is not to say that the lives of such robots would not differ in any way from the lives of human slaves, because obviously there would be plenty of differences, but these differences are still a separate discussion from the actual relationship to production.

Anyways read Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou

[–] Dessa@hexbear.net 6 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Is slave a subcategory of proletariat, or its own different category?

[–] RollaD20@hexbear.net 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

different category. The proletariat is the class of people that lives off of the sale of its labour power whereas slaves are entirely commodified class of people owned and wholly exploited by a non-producing upper class.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)