Utopia on Fast Forward: Why Accelerating AI Skips Over the Plumbing
When acceleration leaves people in the dust
Recently, while wandering through Reddit’s ever-expanding theory maze, I stumbled across a comment in r/accelerate. For those unfamiliar, accelerate is a subreddit where the only thing faster than the pace of posts is the breathless optimism about AI and the singularity.
In their own words, it’s a “pro-singularity, pro-AI alternative” where talk of slowing down, cautioning, or - heaven forbid - channeling your inner Luddite is strictly forbidden. If you’re not clapping loudly enough for the superintelligence train, you’ll be left at the station, presumably handing out pamphlets with the rest of us “decels.”
That’s what makes it so ironic - and, actually, refreshing - that the most biting commentary on techno-utopian optimism came from within the belly of the accelerationist beast. Amid the gleeful forecasts of work-free abundance and AI-driven bliss, someone dared to ask:
“Second, I think this dream narrative being pitched makes the assumption that in a future with no jobs, everyone's needs are met, and we've migrated to some form of utopia. The problem with that narrative is sticking the landing.”
Because, yes, the Reddit commenter zeroes in on the catch: utopia isn’t just about dreaming big; it’s about making sure those dreams land somewhere sustainable - preferably somewhere with power, water, and shelter.
All Gas, No Guardrails
Let’s zoom out. The mission statement of r/accelerate leaves little room for nuance: “No decels.” No hesitance, no slowdowns, no questions about who might be under the wheels as society hits warp speed. There are subreddits for more cautious, squishy humanist takes - r/singularity, r/futurology - but r/accelerate is proudly not that. Here, the trajectory is up up and away.
Their confidence borders on the rapturous: AI will cure disease, obliterate work, and usher in a world where the only thing slower than medical diagnostics is your grandma’s dial-up connection. Poverty? Hunger? Just wait a few more GPT versions! It’ll all be solved. Why patch the roof when the Factorio construction robots are about to airlift you a new one?
But as that comment so thoughtfully pointed out,
“At this exact moment, the job market is brutal, and it's getting worse every day as AI continues to advance. Large companies are announcing future layoffs daily with no end in sight. Robotics are coming for manual labor jobs just as fast as agents are coming for desk work. Despite these realities, we have not started laying any groundwork for a future in which people's needs are met sans income.”
Accelerationism’s single gear conveniently ignores the flat tires and missing passengers. While the future flashes past, the actual groundwork - the tedious, collective, real-world stuff that improves basic human welfare - gets left behind.
The Job-Apocalypse Is Coming (But Universal Income Is Still Away on Holiday)
The accelerationist gospel is easy to spot: jobs will disappear under a tsunami of automation, but don’t worry - something better will take their place. Jobs, after all, are a problem to be automated out of existence. Can’t pay the mortgage? Just pivot to painting or pottery; the robots will handle the bills, right after they finish cooking dinner.
Of course, reality insists on being more complicated. As companies lay off workers in anticipation of that AI-powered future - and robots gear up to sweep factory floors and literal floors both - the world has yet to lay a single brick of true safety-net infrastructure. Something like Universal basic income (UBI) remains an abstract talking point, not a lifeline. The shiny singularity model forgets to mention the need for off-ramps, safety rails, or even a first-aid kit for those thrown clear by the impact.
On Infrastructure, or Lack Thereof
Here’s the pixelated elephant in the server farm: public infrastructure - clean water, shelter, nutritious food - has never kept pace with the dreams sold by the tech parade (kind of like the sewage of Burj Khalifa). Billions of people remain outside the “future” looking in, still grappling with basic needs. TikTok trends fade faster than most governments can lay new pipes or fix collapsing bridges.
The Reddit user - a voice of careful reason amid the techno-carnival - warned us that:
“While I dream for the world you're talking about, the reality is that if those in power don't need employees to do labor, it's easier to let you die on the street then it is [to] make billions of robots to feed and house us all.”
Techno-accelerationists frequently leapfrog today’s problems, assuming that each wave of progress will automatically lift all boats. But history is clearer: the benefits tend to float to the surface, clustered among those with a head start and a decent bank balance. Which brings us to the crux:
It's nice to get caught up in the what ifs of the future, and curing diseases is one of the essential things to make that happen, but I fear that those things will reach those who need them, last.
If ever.
If dreams of AI-powered medicine can’t even reach the people whose highlight of the day is not going to sleep hungry and whose water supply is questionable, what hope is there that “AI for all” won’t become “AI for some, and escapism for the rest?”
The Downside of Fast-Forward: Who Gets to Hit Play?
Self-identified accelerationists are allergic to hesitation - they’d rather upload their brains to the cloud than stop to wonder who’s getting reliable WiFi. But while they debate which AI model might solve cancer, millions remain beyond the help of aspirin, let alone precision gene-editing or digital doctors.
Accelerationism spans a range of ideologies - some simply enthusiastic about rapid technological advancement, others aggressively advocating for the drastic intensification of capitalist growth and change to destabilize existing systems for the sake of radical social transformation (to put it lightly).
It’s important to clarify here: while the r/accelerate subreddit is deeply pro-AI and pro-singularity, and its users often foster strong pro-progress ideas, it doesn’t necessarily endorse anti-democratic or authoritarian forms of accelerationism. There’s an overlap in language and optimism, but these communities are not a monolith, and many members do not share the extreme views espoused by some public accelerationist theorists.
My focus here is not to conflate all of r/accelerate with the darker edges of accelerationist thought, but to emphasize the potential dangers when the philosophy goes largely unchecked.
On the other hand, we have to recognize that some of the loudest accelerationist voices today come from thinkers like Curtis Yarvin - also known as Mencius Moldbug -and his neoreactionary “Dark Enlightenment” movement.
Yarvin advocates replacing democracy with corporate-style, CEO-led autocratic governments, dismissing public accountability as inefficient “legacy code.”
These aren’t just idle musings in obscure online forums anymore. His ideas, which reject equality and instead promote technocratic elite rule have seeped into Silicon Valley, finance, and - more recently - directly into the corridors of American power.
Yarvin has reportedly become a favorite consultant and back-channel adviser for influential political figures, with insiders noting his connections to high-ranking officials and think tanks tied to major policy shifts in the current American administration.
Some of his terminology and anti-democratic frameworks are echoed in statements by prominent public figures and policy documents, suggesting his influence is far from fringe.
This raises real worries about the erosion of democratic norms and the deepening of social inequalities.
What does this have to do with AI?
AI isn’t just a bystander in this high-speed experiment - it’s a turbocharged engine strapped to the whole operation. As a tool, AI is notoriously susceptible to reflecting the values (or lack thereof) of those who wield it and oh boy have did we have a first seat view with the whole Grok fiasco. In the hands of elite-driven accelerationists, AI could be harnessed not to democratize opportunity, but to intensify hierarchy and control.
Imagine algorithmic governance implemented without transparency or public oversight, where automation is used primarily to maximize efficiency, monitor dissent, or gatekeep resources for those already at the top.
When the people calling the shots see democracy as “legacy code,” there’s little guarantee that their shiny new systems will come with rights, representation, or real recourse for the rest of us.
This elite-driven accelerationism pushes for rapid technological and social upheaval "at any cost," often sidelining social safety nets and public debate. The risk is a future shaped less by collective progress and more by those with power and influence - leaving many behind in the dust.
Progress isn’t just about getting somewhere fast - it’s about remembering why we set out, and who we want to bring with us. Speed without direction is just spinning tires; acceleration without equity just leaves more people behind.
Plumb the Depths Before Installing Jetpacks
If there’s one thing history proves again and again, it’s that we humans are a resilient bunch. Against all odds, we’ve found ways to adapt, improvise, and persist - often with nothing but our stubbornness, ingenuity, and the occasional lucky break. It’s this capacity to navigate the unknown that helped us “make it” in the first place.
But now, for perhaps the first time, the future’s building blocks are of our own making - crafted in our labs, written in our code, voted into our policies. The levers we pull today will shape what’s next, for better or worse. And while nobody can say with certainty how any path will turn out, we’d do well to remember that the end doesn’t always justify the means, at least not yet.
By all means, let’s reach for that sickness-free singularity (rhyming accidentally). But while we’re cracking those eggs to make humanity’s omelette, let’s try not to break too many along the way. After all, the real recipe for progress has always required care - not just speed.