The author posits (melodramatically) one very compelling economic question, which is: How will the 99% provide economic value when the 1% do not need them and do not fear them.
A very scary premise, but it's also possible that the future will be more egalitarian, with technology liberating us into an age of abundance.
I also wonder if the future of armed conflict is really going to look like robot warfare. In the near future, it probably will be the case, but if I was one of the fortified 1%, I'm not sure I'd feel all that secure. I suspect there's a coming age of biological engineering that will completely transform warfare away from robots and into things like targeted viruses.
Parts of this, especially the democratizing nature of guns as the primary weapon, read similarly to [this essay](http://www.george-orwell.org/You_and_the_Atomic_Bomb/0.html) by George Orwell, "You and the Atomic Bomb".
It's an interesting read, and somewhat prescient.
While no country that possesses atomic bombs has attempted to use them as weapons of repression, drones are surely far more tempting to tyrants with much less collateral damage.
There's one counter-argument that I thought of right away, that kinda dispels this whole scenario:
What if there's one hacker in the 99% who is smart enough to re-program the killer robots to kill the controlling part of the 1%? There's a good chance at least one will be found...
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[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 15.7 ms ] threadI also wonder if the future of armed conflict is really going to look like robot warfare. In the near future, it probably will be the case, but if I was one of the fortified 1%, I'm not sure I'd feel all that secure. I suspect there's a coming age of biological engineering that will completely transform warfare away from robots and into things like targeted viruses.
While no country that possesses atomic bombs has attempted to use them as weapons of repression, drones are surely far more tempting to tyrants with much less collateral damage.
What if there's one hacker in the 99% who is smart enough to re-program the killer robots to kill the controlling part of the 1%? There's a good chance at least one will be found...