The (real) dead economy theory

civilian

> That's the logic of the whole market today. AI – the world's money-losingest technology – attracts investment at the expense of everything else. I expect Cory to have skepticism about technology that can be exploited for dystopian purposes, but calling AI "the world's money-losingest technology" is out of touch. If AI can support/replace some intellectual work, it'll be revolutionary, and that's what the investment bet is about. I get that the blog post is making a separate point about Musk's companies but it's dissapointing to see mistakes like this in Cory's thinking

lionheart

I just don't get it. How do you go from writing the kinds of future visions he has to staring at the singularity practically hitting you in the face and calling it "the world's money-losingest technology"? Is it because he isn't actually using the technology for work on a day-to-day basis like a lot of us?

neko_ranger

most interesting sentence is the first one

rokob

> something is valuable because some people think other people will pay more for it in the future, and not because it does useful things This has been the definition of finance for hundreds of years. I don't know why it comes across here like this is a new phenomenon.

debo_

Whenever I read Cory Doctorow, I feel like someone took the complement of Paul Graham's writing and posted it. I personally find both of them vapid and annoying. Edit: the article that the author is commenting on is IMO much better than the linked commentary. There's not much to it https://crookedtimber.org/2026/06/15/one-big-grift/

thelastgallon

There was a recent discussion: The Dead Economy Theory: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48324712 "The underlying purpose of AI is to allow wealth to access skill while removing from the skilled the ability to access wealth". (comment on the discussion above: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48334069 )

jdw64

'Dead' economy theory, you say? I guess the economy must have been alive at some point, then. In my short life, though, I don't think it ever was....