Deification of AI and the Technocratic Elite

How access to advanced technology could create a new class of demigods

The Transhuman Divide

As AI and enhancement technologies advance, a divide emerges between those with access to these innovations and those without.

Transhuman enhancements could include cognitive improvements, life extension technologies, and integrated AI systems.

Healthcare Disparity

While advanced treatments like specialized chemotherapy ($10,000) and radiation therapy ($15,000/session) exist, access is not equal.

The question becomes: does everyone get equal access to these expensive treatments, or do they become privileges for the elite?

The Technocratic Selectors

State planners, technocrats, and oligarchs increasingly have the power to decide who receives life-extending treatments and enhancements.

This selection process effectively gives them power over who survives longest and thrives in the new technological landscape.

Emergent Demigods

Those with full access to enhancement technologies may develop capabilities so advanced they appear godlike to the unenhanced.

Extended lifespans, enhanced intelligence, and integrated AI could create a qualitative difference between enhanced and non-enhanced humans.

Loss of Autonomy

The masses may gradually lose freedom to act in their own interests as systems become more complex and controlled by the enhanced elite.

As AI systems manage more aspects of society, human agency may decrease for those without access to or understanding of these systems.

Deification Process

The technological elite may come to be viewed as demigods, not through intentional design but through emergent properties of the capability gap.

This deification could be similar to how ancient humans viewed those with advanced knowledge or technology as divine.

The Enhancement Gap Visualization

Projected disparity in access to advanced technologies between different societal classes:

80% Elite

45% Upper Middle

25% Middle

10% Working

3% Underclass

This visualization shows the potential access gap to advanced medical and enhancement technologies across socioeconomic classes.

Convergent Techno-Totalitarianism

The synthesis of AI advancement and transhumanism could lead to a form of techno-totalitarianism where an enhanced elite controls increasingly powerful systems that manage society.

This may result in a literal capability divide between enhanced "demigods" and the rest of humanity, potentially creating the most absolute hierarchy in human history.

The question is not whether AI will become godlike, but whether humans will become godlike through AI—and if so, which humans?"

Analysis of technological inequality and its potential societal impacts

© 2023 Technological Equity Project