"Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
>
> If all of humanity could face the creation of transhuman
> intelligence with Warwick's sense of enthusiasm, I would not fear the outcome.
Hmm...
Labourers are kept in gulag-like camps... There is very little artificial light (what would humans need that for?) and very little heat, just enough to keep the humans alive, and certainly not enough for what used to be called 'comfort'...
A labourer's working life starts at the age of 12, having been selected at birth for such a role. By about 18, labourers are at the peak of their performance, and by about 27 or 28 they are usually worn out and are taken to the incinerator, though some particularly strong humans do last until their early 30's. Life from 12 until the incinerator is one which involves hard physical work for almost 16 hours a day, with short feeding breaks, and travel to the local gulag for sleep...
...Although wild humans are very rare, a few still exist... Most ... live underground for much of the time, to avoid the occasional dehuman gassings, where large regions are smothered by poisonous gases to kill any humans present...
...Under the dominance of machines, once humans no longer have a useful purpose to serve, are performing their role in a way which can be done much better by young humans, or have a fairly serious illness, they are simply sent off to the incinerator.