The specific silliness of “humans before business” is pretty straightforward: business is something humans do, and “humans before this thing that humans do” is meaningless or tautological. Business doesn’t exist without humans, right?
Eh, it’s not as absurd as that. You know how we worry that AI’s might optimize something easily quantifiable, but in a way that destroys human value? I think it’s entierly reasonable to think that businesses may do the same thing, and optimize for their own profit in a way that destroys human value in general. For example, the way Facebook is to a significant extent designed to maximize getting clicks and eyeballs in manipulative ways that do not actually serve human communication needs for the users.
Eh, it’s not as absurd as that. You know how we worry that AI’s might optimize something easily quantifiable, but in a way that destroys human value? I think it’s entierly reasonable to think that businesses may do the same thing, and optimize for their own profit in a way that destroys human value in general. For example, the way Facebook is to a significant extent designed to maximize getting clicks and eyeballs in manipulative ways that do not actually serve human communication needs for the users.