Scott Howard has written a post entitled The Conservative Case for the Actor’s Guild: on the blogsite of National Review:
My colleague Jonathan Nicastro wrote recently on the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and Screenwriters Guild strikes upending Hollywood. Jonathan stakes his position in a single candid line:
If AI can produce series, movies, or political-economy-related op-eds more cheaply and quickly — and make them more entertaining — than human writers can, it should substitute us.
His position is nothing outrageous. Faith in the innovative powers of the free market is a cornerstone of American conservatism, as it should be. In most places in most times with most technologies these kinds of disruptions should be viewed with long-term optimism.
What do you think of that? The Free Market creates businesses and jobs, and it also destroys them when they become obsolete, a process economists call “creative destruction.” The result, overall, is economic progress and a higher standard of living.
Blue collar workers have had their jobs taken from them by machines since the time of the industrial revolution continuing today. But now AI is threatening to do the same to white collar workers–“knowledge workers,” educated professionals–and the sky is falling.
Howard goes on to differ with his colleague and defends the creations of human beings against those generated by machines.
But this is another example of the conflicts going on within the heart of American conservatism. Should we have faith in free market economics at all costs? Or should we temper that with conservative goals that may involve a bigger government that controls the economy?
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