Insert Foot, Grimes and Skynet socialists.

At least Grimes is trying. 

Granted, the Canadian pop singer-songwriter is a bit weird, though that’s a plus in this context. Because only weirdos–at least in some sense–are really worth our extra attention. We don’t expect normal people to grab us by the shoulders and scream “Here, experience this!” and have everything about our small lives suddenly seem bigger and brighter. 

No, I don’t think Grimes’ music is world-altering. Someone obviously does, so let’s treat the “bigger and brighter” idea as a hypothetical. I’m sure it’s wonderful on the 2 a.m. dance floor when the drugs kick back in (hindsight usually omits how one feels at 11 the next morning, but I digress)…

Grimes, of course, goes above and beyond mere songwriting by making concept albums about “Dune,” attempting to sail the length of the Mississippi River in a homemade houseboat, and dating Elon Musk (another serious weirdo trying to change the world). She’s adventurous, has good taste in sci-fi and isn’t boring, which isn’t the worst thing to say about someone these days. 

So Grimes posted a Tik Tok video earlier this week in which she pitches a socialist worker’s paradise created by artificial intelligence. Right, she’s into Elon Musk and socialism: concepts seemingly compatible as grape jelly and plutonium.  

But I woke up this morning in a world in which an existential risk scholar from the University of Oxford said humanity has a one in six chance of destroying itself at some point this century. 

As Axios points out, that’s Russian roulette. It usually works out in films not about men who hunt deer but isn’t something rational people ever consider. So maybe it’s time to listen to the weirdos.  

@grimesA.I. Is the fastest path to communism #ai #communism #farming♬ Vivaldi – Spring – Allegro – Essential Band

Of course, AI is a big part of that risk assessment, which we already knew, because we keep paying to see Terminator sequels because we might just believe Skynet is real.  

But, like Crocs and “Fast & Furious” movies, AI is here to stay, whether we like it or not. So much so, perhaps it’s not the worst idea to look to AI to solve potential problems caused by AI.

Grimes calls her plan Fully Automated Luxury Communism (FALC). At least one of those words is already problematic with half of the United States. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, since many of those same people believe vaccines turn humans into lizards (or whatever it is this week).  

But is this the worst idea? “We could totally get to a situation where nobody has to work, everybody is provided for with a comfortable state of being, comfortable living,” she said, according to Axios. Grimes also said “AI could automate all the farming, weed out systemic corruption, thereby bringing us to, as close as possible, genuine equality.”

Now … I like that. I don’t believe it will happen. But Donald Trump was elected president (once) and the government admits UFOs are out there. So nothing should be off the table.

The idea isn’t new, as in 2019 writer Aaron Bastani postulated “What if we could all live in ‘Star Trek?’” 

Bingo. Spare us the mundane of cooking, cleaning, and dating the same species. And real lizard-people! 

The problem with this, of course, is it examines end results without a process. AI isn’t doing much for those whose jobs it replaces. How strange; shiny new technology only benefitting those at the top of the economic food chain.

I may not be the biggest fan of Grimes’ music–which I believe has nothing to do with age and/or a certain editor’s drivel attached to last week’s column claiming I’m a man version of smelly old show leather (or something). I’m about halfway through life and just happen to no longer be on drugs on dance floors. 

But I do like shiny new ideas, especially from pop stars with wide reach dreaming big. Until people have the courage to do so, and say so, things just remain the same. That is a bad option with a decent chance of humanity being gone in 100 years. Keep talking crazy. 

Follow music critic Tony Hicks at Twitter.com/TonyBaloney1967.