Wasted

FIRST PERSON

- ALEX MAGNO

By 2027, according to a widely quoted study, artificial intelligence (AI) will achieve "super-intelligence." That means that learning machines will exceed the capacity of human brains — with individual machines capable of the combined thinking ability of a hundred PhD-level brains across all regions of knowledge.

From thereon, AI will begin to take control of the destiny of human civilization. In the most dystopian scenarios, AI will begin to plot humanity's extinction.

In that year, Filipinos might still be scrounging around muddy river banks in search of missing flood control projects or diving in acrid lakes trying to find the bones of missing gamblers.

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto estimates taxpayer money lost to flood control scams in just the past three years at about P180 billion. That translates into a significant reduction in our GDP growth and the lost opportunity to create a quarter of a million jobs.

This is probably an underestimate.

Our stock market has been lethargic the past few weeks since the flood control scams captured the public imagination. They remained lethargic even as our corporations reported robust earnings.

Our business fundamentals are strong. But investors are not buying even the most undervalued stocks. The air has been poisoned by the corruption scandals. Investors will stay away from our market until the air clears.

One wire report estimates that our market gave up about P1.7 trillion in market capitalization because of the climate of uncertainty sparked by the corruption scandal. This takes a tremendous toll on our economy's ability to create wealth for its people.