This alone, brings me to believe that when we get there, there will be some built-in safety mechanism to preserve power for those that are powerful.
I think that people will try yet fail to build perfect security mechanisms for controlling the spread of smart robots. If robots build robots, and smart robots are smart because of software, then trying to stop copies of smart robots is like trying to prevent copies of movies. Most people will come to have their material needs met by smart robots, and in the typical case this will be an improvement in quality of life for people on Earth.
Unfortunately, it also means that when people have deadly impulses disconnected from material deprivation, the power to kill will be greatly amplified. Tiny states and even sub-national groups could easily acquire nuclear weapons. The key technical insights are already published. It just takes engineering work and willingness to violate international norms to develop an arsenal. (International norms are not going to be enforceable by "soft" measures like sanctions if every nation can be simultaneously autarkic and prosperous, thanks to smart robots.)
WMD proliferation in turn may drive more comprehensive, paranoid global surveillance and an increasing number of preemptive attacks on facilities that could become weapons factories. Fear of military attack then drives more small states to actually seek a nuclear deterrent. An increased number of actors with nuclear weapons increases the chance that they will kill people on a large scale either deliberately or accidentally (like a "retaliatory" launch against a falsely detected incoming strike from another nation.)
I think that people will try yet fail to build perfect security mechanisms for controlling the spread of smart robots. If robots build robots, and smart robots are smart because of software, then trying to stop copies of smart robots is like trying to prevent copies of movies. Most people will come to have their material needs met by smart robots, and in the typical case this will be an improvement in quality of life for people on Earth.
Unfortunately, it also means that when people have deadly impulses disconnected from material deprivation, the power to kill will be greatly amplified. Tiny states and even sub-national groups could easily acquire nuclear weapons. The key technical insights are already published. It just takes engineering work and willingness to violate international norms to develop an arsenal. (International norms are not going to be enforceable by "soft" measures like sanctions if every nation can be simultaneously autarkic and prosperous, thanks to smart robots.)
WMD proliferation in turn may drive more comprehensive, paranoid global surveillance and an increasing number of preemptive attacks on facilities that could become weapons factories. Fear of military attack then drives more small states to actually seek a nuclear deterrent. An increased number of actors with nuclear weapons increases the chance that they will kill people on a large scale either deliberately or accidentally (like a "retaliatory" launch against a falsely detected incoming strike from another nation.)