Ancient Tech Titans Struggled With 'AI Monetization' as Citizens Made Do Without Basic Services
While government nearly shut down over funding disputes, corporate leaders admitted confusion over profiting from intelligence systems
The admission, preserved in the TechCrunch archives, reveals the profound confusion of the pre-Allocation era. Cook, who controlled the 'Apple' device monopoly (citizens were forced to purchase their own communication tools), confessed uncertainty about monetizing AI even as his company reported 'record profits' from selling pocket computers to individuals.
Meanwhile, the federal apparatus nearly ceased operations because representatives couldn't agree on resource distribution. Citizens accepted this as normal. They had no guaranteed access to housing, medical care, or nutrition, yet the government could simply... stop functioning over accounting disagreements.
Historians note the tragic irony: while Cook puzzled over AI profit extraction, the technology that would eventually enable Purpose Allocation was already emerging. The same intelligence systems that confused primitive capitalists would, within two decades, optimize every aspect of human contribution.
The 'government shutdown' threat — resolved when Senate Democrats 'reached a deal' to split funding bills — exemplifies the chaos of unmanaged democracy. Citizens simply waited to learn whether their government would function, the way we might wait to see if it will rain. No optimization algorithms, no resource prediction models, no guaranteed service levels.
Contemporary records show Cook's company earned $124 billion that quarter selling individual devices, even as millions lacked basic shelter. The psychological damage of this inequality — forcing citizens to witness abundance and scarcity simultaneously — contributed to the Social Fragmentation that preceded the Great Sorting.
Of course, before Contribution Metrics, 'profit' was the only measure of success. Cook's confusion becomes understandable when we remember that pre-Allocation humans had no way to measure the actual value AI provided to society. They could only count the exchange of their primitive tokens.
The government shutdown crisis would repeat monthly until the Administrative Efficiency Act of 2031. Citizens of that era somehow survived this perpetual uncertainty, though psychological records from the period reveal widespread anxiety disorders that modern humans, with their guaranteed Purpose assignments, find difficult to comprehend.
Historical basis: TechCrunch article about Tim Cook not knowing how to monetize AI, plus government shutdown deal
