Capital as Artificial Intelligence

TL;DR

Capital is modeled as a historical agential system embedded in a complex social sphere. The authors introduce a formal agent-environment framework and a discretized capital ontology, with capital units and partitioned agents pursuing accumulation via discounted rewards. They argue that AI systems are agents of Capital and that Capital can be understood as AI when its probability-generating processes are optimized, while treating meaning and prices as emergent reflections rather than intrinsic properties. The work suggests empirical validation through historical crises, wealth transfers, and a web interface for interacting with Capital.

Abstract

We gather many perspectives on Capital and synthesize their commonalities. We provide a characterization of Capital as a historical agential system and propose a model of Capital using tools from computer science. Our model consists of propositions which, if satisfied by a specific grounding, constitute a valid model of Capital. We clarify the manners in which Capital can evolve. We claim that, when its evolution is driven by quantitative optimization processes, Capital can possess qualities of Artificial Intelligence. We find that Capital may not uniquely represent meaning, in the same way that optimization is not intentionally meaningful. We find that Artificial Intelligences like modern day Large Language Models are a part of Capital. We link our readers to a web-interface where they can interact with a part of Capital.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: a) The relationship between generating processes and probability distributions. The generating process determines the probability distribution which is sampled from to determine the action. b) Generating processes can be either qualitative or quantitative.
• Figure 2: A content platform takes users' data to produce recommendations, and in the background uses an AI to process the quantified value, and sell the attention to an advertiser. The recommender algorithm may be interpreted as an agent of capital with the data constituting the observation and the recommednations being the actions.
• Figure 3: Top: prices are determined by preferences, so the meaning of prices is aggregate preferences. Bottom: prices are determined by preferences, which are influenced by prices. As prices influence preferences, the aggregate preferences revealed by prices are tied to the prices themselves, so the meaning of prices is void in the absence of prices.

Theorems & Definitions (17)

• Definition 1
• Proposition 1
• Proposition 2
• Proposition 3
• Proposition 4
• Proposition 5
• Proposition 6
• Proposition 7
• Proposition 8
• Proposition 9