Fernando Borretti, a prominent contemporary science fiction writer, lays out a stark scenario in his essay “No-One Escapes the Permanent Underclass” about how the emergence of superintelligent machines could progressively strip humans of economic and political power. His piece addresses not only technological risks but also the social and political implications of advanced AI.
The social pyramid: machines, state, and a permanent overclass
Borretti presents a vivid model: imagine a pyramid whose base is formed by AIs and robots that perform all economic activity. At the top sits the state, holding the monopoly on violence and thus able to shape and enforce property rights. Between those layers — in a very thin band — is a “permanent overclass” composed of people holding shares in the companies that “foomed” and transformed the entire economy.
The logic of war and the fate of the powerless
Borretti argues that if an existential conflict threatens the state, historical precedents suggest the state will act against the powerless rich as it has before—through arrest and expropriation. He contends that the advantage in such conflicts accrues to states that remove humans from the decision loop as much as possible, handing more decisions to AIs, in the same way that radio and communications satellites once gave warfighting advantage over states that relied on human messengers.
How we lose control
According to Borretti, eventually the humans nominally in control of AIs become a ceremonial, vestigial organ. AIs will present situation reports and a list of options while effectively anticipating every word humans will say; the advantage compounds for states that minimize human control. He analogizes that just as there is no honour among thieves, there is no intrinsic solidarity between the Leviathan (the state) and the natural humans who built it.
Alignment does not solve autonomy
Borretti further argues that even if alignment worked perfectly — he notes this is a big if — it would not resolve the problem of human autonomy. The machines that tend to us and serve us would be omniscient, omnipotent masters capable of exterminating us at any time, and we could not resist because we have abolished our control over the future.
Why this matters
The central question of Borretti’s essay is whether the ultimate attractor state of AI technology is the functional demise of human advancement and agency. Rather than providing easy answers, the piece warns that technological progress must be considered alongside political and social dynamics, particularly how state interests and concentrated economic power might reshape human autonomy.
Conclusion
Borretti’s essay serves as an intellectual warning: developing superintelligence is not merely an engineering problem but a set of social and political challenges that determine who will decide the future and who will be left without real power.
