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UBA - universal basic asset is a sling shot
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The dawn of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) era represents a fundamental inflection point in human history. The scale of the technological shift is matched only by the scale of the capital required to build it, creating the conditions for a macroeconomic shock that threatens to devalue traditional labor, debase fiat currencies, and create a societal chasm between asset owners and the asset-less. This analysis posits that traditional remedies are insufficient for a crisis of this magnitude. What is required is not a new system of handouts, but a new paradigm of ownership—the seeding of a parallel, sovereign economy built on a hard, non-state asset.
1.1 The Great Devaluation: AI and the Coming Monetary Shock
The premise of an AI-driven monetary shock is not speculative; it is a matter of scale. The global buildout of AI infrastructure is projected to require between $3 trillion and $7 trillion in investment by the end of the decade. This capital tsunami, increasingly financed by debt rather than cash flows, is already acting as a powerful inflationary force.
This investment creates a massive demand-side shock, driving up the cost of essential commodities, most notably electricity. The energy required to power AI data centers is immense, with projections showing that data centers could account for up to 14% of total U.S. power demand by 2030, tripling their current share. This surge in demand is already leading to rising electricity costs for households. The prospect of electricity costs "shooting up an order of magnitude" is a credible threat, especially as the necessary nuclear power infrastructure is still years away.
This creates a perilous feedback loop. Central banks, faced with AI-driven inflation, would typically raise interest rates. However, with the AI buildout now highly leveraged, such a move could trigger a systemic crisis in the very sector driving economic growth. The more likely path is one of monetary accommodation—tolerating higher inflation to avoid a collapse. This scenario points toward a sustained period of fiat currency debasement, a monetary shock potentially three times larger than that experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. In such a world, holding digital currencies like stablecoins or CBDCs offers little protection, as they are merely digital representations of the very fiat systems being devalued.
Published on 2 months ago