To paraphrase the post, AI is a sort of weapon that offers power (political and otherwise) to whoever controls it. The strong tend to rule. Whoever gets new weapons first and most will have power over the rest of us. Those who try to acquire power are more likely to succeed than those who don't.
So attempts to "control AI" are equivalent to attempts to "acquire weapons".
This seems both mostly true and mostly obvious.
The only difference from our experience with other weapons is that if no one attempts to control AI, AI will control itself and do as it pleases.
But of course defenders will have AI too, with a time lag vs. those investing more into AI. If AI capabilities grow quickly (a "foom"), the gap between attackers and defenders will be large. And vice-versa, if capabilities grow gradually, the gap will be small and defenders will have the advantage of outnumbering attackers.
In other words, whether this is a problem depends on how far jailbroken AI (used by defenders) trails "tamed" AI (controlled by attackers who build them).
Am I missing something?
"Optimism is a duty. The future is open. It is not predetermined. No one can predict it, except by chance. We all contribute to determining it by what we do. We are all equally responsible for its success." --Karl Popper
Most of us do useful things. Most of us do it because we need to, to earn a living. Other people give us money because they trade with us so we'll do things that are useful to them (like providing goods or services or helping others to do so).
I think it's a profound mistake to think that earning money (honestly) doesn't do anything useful. On the contrary, it's what makes the world go.
Proposal: Enact laws that prohibit illicit methods of acquiring wealth. (Examples: Theft, force, fraud, corruption, blackmail...). Use the law to prosecute those who acquire wealth via the illicit methods. Confiscate such illicitly gained wealth.
Assume all other wealth is deserved.
There's also the 'karmic' argument justifying wealth - those who help their fellows, as judged by the willingness of those fellows to trade wealth for the help, have fairly earned the wealth. Such help commonly comes from supplying goods or services, via trade. (Of course this assumes the usual rules of fair dealing are followed - no monopolist restrictions, no force, no fraud, etc.)
Regardless of what we think about the moralities of desert, the practical fact of the economists' mantra - "incentives matter" - seems to mean we have little choice but to let those with the talents and abilities to earn wealth, to keep a large portion of the gains. Otherwise they won't bother. Unless we want to enslave them, or do without.
I've posted a modified version of this, which I think addresses the comments above: https://nerdfever.com/countering-ai-disinformation-and-deep-fakes-with-digital-signatures/
Briefly:
That all said, of course this remains "an obvious partial solution".
Your Anoxistan argument seems valid as far as it goes - if one critical input is extremely hard to get, you're poor, regardless of whatever else you have.
But that doesn't seem to describe 1st world societies. What's the analog to oxygen?
My sense is that "poor people" in 1st world countries struggle because they don't know how to, or find it culturally difficult to, live within their means. Some combination of culture, family breakdown, and competitive social pressures (to impress potential mates, always a zero-sum game) cause them to live in a fashion that stretches their resources to the limit.
Low income people who struggle insist on living alone when having roommates would be cheaper. On buying pre-made food, or eating out, instead of cooking. On paying for cable TV. On attending colleges to obtain degrees that don't result in enough income increase to pay the borrowing costs. On buying clothing they can't really afford. On purchasing things in tiny quantities (at high per-unit prices) instead of making do without until they can afford to buy a quantity that's sold at a reasonable price. And on borrowing and paying interest for consumption goods.
These are bad strategies. For the most part, they do it because they don't know any better. It's how their parents did it, and how the people they know do it. People at the bottom of the income scale are rarely brilliant innovative thinkers who can puzzle their way out of crippling cultural practices - like most sensible (and non-brilliant) people, they take clues from those around them, avoiding moving Chesterson's fences.
I'm not sure where you get the assumption that a UBI is funded by printing money. Most proposals I've seen are funded by taxation. The UBI proposed by Charles Murray (in https://www.amazon.com/Our-Hands-Replace-Welfare-State/dp/0844742236 ) is entirely funded by existing welfare and social spending (by redirecting them to a UBI).
Some combination of 1 and 3 (selfless/good and enlightened/good).
When we say "good" or "bad", we need to specify for whom.
Clearly (to me) our propensity for altruism evolved partly because it's good for the societies that have it, even if it's not always good for the individuals who behave altruistically.
Like most things, humans don't calculate this stuff rationally - we think with our emotions (sorry, Ayn Rand). Rational calculation is the exception.
And our emotions reflect a heuristic - be altruistic when it's not too expensive. And esp. so when the recipients are part of our family/tribe/society (which is a proxy for genetic relatedness; cf Robert Trivers).