And large parts of the relevant prior world exploded together in those cases, not one tiny part suddenly exterminating all the rest.
Really, though? This just seems obviously wrong to me, unless I apply very strict definitions of “suddenly” and “exterminating.” By which I mean, much stricter definitions than Hanson applies to his own ideas in work on very long term economic growth rates (see: https://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/longgrow.html).
The origin of humans happened in a portion of the area in East Africa, and involved a total of maybe a few thousand individuals weighing a total of a few thousand tons, who went on to take over the world. The other hominids are basically gone except for some shared genes from the early phases.
The agricultural revolution happened in Mesopotamia, and happened in a population of 100k to 1M people, weighing a total of tens of thousands of tons, whose innovation went on to take over the world. The hunter-gatherers are basically gone except for a few remnants we haven’t bothered to destroy and/or have actively protected.
The industrial revolution happened in Britain, and happened in a population of a few million people, who went on the take over the world. Farming is 100x rarer in the population than it used to be, as a profession.
AI development is more distributed. But, if I add up the workforce, physical capital, energy inputs, and land area being devoted to it, using similar principles as the above three, it would be comparable or significantly larger than the prior three.
Really, though? This just seems obviously wrong to me, unless I apply very strict definitions of “suddenly” and “exterminating.” By which I mean, much stricter definitions than Hanson applies to his own ideas in work on very long term economic growth rates (see: https://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/longgrow.html).
The origin of humans happened in a portion of the area in East Africa, and involved a total of maybe a few thousand individuals weighing a total of a few thousand tons, who went on to take over the world. The other hominids are basically gone except for some shared genes from the early phases.
The agricultural revolution happened in Mesopotamia, and happened in a population of 100k to 1M people, weighing a total of tens of thousands of tons, whose innovation went on to take over the world. The hunter-gatherers are basically gone except for a few remnants we haven’t bothered to destroy and/or have actively protected.
The industrial revolution happened in Britain, and happened in a population of a few million people, who went on the take over the world. Farming is 100x rarer in the population than it used to be, as a profession.
AI development is more distributed. But, if I add up the workforce, physical capital, energy inputs, and land area being devoted to it, using similar principles as the above three, it would be comparable or significantly larger than the prior three.