1. Artificial Intelligence -- The Fourth Technological Revolution
15 years ago, the world had no smartphones, 150 years ago there were no internal combustion engines or electricity, 1500 years ago there were no machines, and 15000 years ago there was no agriculture. Three major technological revolutions have occurred in history: the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, and the computer revolution; now the fourth will occur: the artificial intelligence revolution. This revolution will directly target humanity's top capabilities: thinking, creating, understanding, and reasoning.
2. The unimaginable advances achieved by the future artificial intelligence revolution will far exceed any previous accomplishments. The artificial intelligence systems we have established are still in their primitive state, but the trend line is clearly visible. It will create astonishing wealth! Once powerful artificial intelligence 'joins the workforce', the cost of labor will drop to zero. We need to correspondingly change the policy framework for wealth distribution to allow more people to enjoy a better life.
Three, everything is subject to Moore's Law. We will live in a world where any goods/services, including housing, education/food/clothing, will halve in price every two years. There are only two ways to improve people's living standards: either earn more money or lower prices. The former only makes some people wealthy, while the latter can make everyone prosperous. Wealth is essentially purchasing power. Clearly, the best way to increase social wealth is to lower costs. Look at Moore's Law and chips; this has been the case for decades: every two years, at the same price, chip computing power doubles. The prices of televisions, computers, and mobile phones continue to decline. However, prices for housing, higher education, and medical services keep rising. If this situation continues, it won't matter how wealth is redistributed.
Four, AI will reduce labor costs to zero.
However, the emergence of AI will greatly reduce the cost of all goods and services, as labor is the largest cost. For example, robotic operations can infinitely lower the cost of building houses, significantly below the cost of labor. Similarly, you can imagine AI doctors and AI teachers. These may sound utopian, but they are being realized.
Five, a world where everyone is a shareholder. The work of producing goods/services will largely be undertaken by robots, leading to many people having nothing to do. How can we make everyone a shareholder, distributing ownership and wealth to citizens in this way? People need not worry about unemployment and can free up ample time to do what they love. This is not a new idea, but with the power of artificial intelligence, it has become very feasible.
Six, to tax capital and land, the best practice is to tax capital rather than labor. Future wealth will mainly come from companies using AI for production and limited land supply. The government can focus on taxing companies and land, allowing other types of taxes to exit the historical stage. Seven, a concrete suggestion for the American Equality Fund: establish the American Equality Fund. This is a large pool of social wealth. The fund's funding source will be a 2.5% tax on the market value of companies and land each year. Every American citizen over 18 will receive dividends from the fund each year, which can be distributed in cash + stock. This will align the interests of the citizens, companies, and the nation.
Eight, each person can receive $13,500 in dividends annually. Based on the current market value of U.S. companies at $50 trillion and land at $30 trillion, it is achievable to double in the next 10 years. Therefore, ten years later, each American will receive an income of $13,500 per year, perhaps even higher. Considering the capability of technology to lower costs, the actual purchasing power of this money will be much higher than it is now.
