If AI/robots can do everything a human can, and if the cost vs productivity of them exceeds humans, then the ruling class would no longer have any interest in keeping humans around.
We fear AIs. What if they don't do what we want? They are unpredictable. What if they turn on us, what if they rise up and kill us? The ruler fears the commoner in exactly the same way. That's why they have always been paranoid about maintaining control, monitoring and censoring communication, restricting access to information. My guess is that many of them would prefer AIs to humans, AIs might be more predictable and easier to control.
What do they need humans for? To protect them, fight their wars, grow their food, make their robots and AIs, and take care of all their needs. Once machines can do all that, a lot of them would feel safer and happier without people around shitting up the place, sharing their resources, spreading diseases, posting things on wikileaks, voting, protesting, revolting.
There's going to be interesting times ahead. Whatever happens it certainly won't involve the have-nots with unlimited leasure time, courtesy of those who control the machines.
Rulers want the social status that they derive from ruling over millions of people. If they were no people to rule over they would have zero status, even if all their material needs were met.
Western ones don't particularly want that anymore, IMO. It's the pursuit of wealth and power. And by power, an army of robots works just as well as an army of subhuman commoners.
Trump does seem like an old school egomaniac who wants to be loved and rule people and have statues of himself. But his kind isn't so common in the west and he is not well liked by the more typical ones who take the cold, scientific approach to wealth extraction and don't seem to care in the slightest how the commoners view them.
We fear AIs. What if they don't do what we want? They are unpredictable. What if they turn on us, what if they rise up and kill us? The ruler fears the commoner in exactly the same way. That's why they have always been paranoid about maintaining control, monitoring and censoring communication, restricting access to information. My guess is that many of them would prefer AIs to humans, AIs might be more predictable and easier to control.
What do they need humans for? To protect them, fight their wars, grow their food, make their robots and AIs, and take care of all their needs. Once machines can do all that, a lot of them would feel safer and happier without people around shitting up the place, sharing their resources, spreading diseases, posting things on wikileaks, voting, protesting, revolting.
There's going to be interesting times ahead. Whatever happens it certainly won't involve the have-nots with unlimited leasure time, courtesy of those who control the machines.