So we can imagine AI occupying the most “cushy” subset of former human territory
We can definitely imagine it—this is a salience argument—but why is it at all likely? Also, this argument is subject to reference class tennis: humans have colonized much more and more diverse territory than other apes, or even all other primates.
Once AI can flourish without ongoing human support (building and running machines, generating electricity, reacting to novel environmental challenges), what would plausibly limit AI to human territory, let alone “cushy” human territory? Computers and robots can survive in any environment humans can, and in some where we at present can’t.
Also: the main determinant of human territory is inter-human social dynamics. We are far from colonizing everywhere our technology allows, or (relatedly) breeding to the greatest number we can sustain. We don’t know what the main determinant of AI expansion will be; we don’t even know yet how many different and/or separate AI entities there are likely to be, and how they will cooperate, trade or conflict with each other.
We can definitely imagine it—this is a salience argument—but why is it at all likely? Also, this argument is subject to reference class tennis: humans have colonized much more and more diverse territory than other apes, or even all other primates.
Once AI can flourish without ongoing human support (building and running machines, generating electricity, reacting to novel environmental challenges), what would plausibly limit AI to human territory, let alone “cushy” human territory? Computers and robots can survive in any environment humans can, and in some where we at present can’t.
Also: the main determinant of human territory is inter-human social dynamics. We are far from colonizing everywhere our technology allows, or (relatedly) breeding to the greatest number we can sustain. We don’t know what the main determinant of AI expansion will be; we don’t even know yet how many different and/or separate AI entities there are likely to be, and how they will cooperate, trade or conflict with each other.