Would wiping out all debt crash the economy?

I have an AI character who has determined through simulation that, though "greed or the lust for money is the root of all evil" is a valid statement, it does not necessarily logically follow that money therefore should be eliminated, as this would likely have unintended highly negative consequences for human life. And it does not address the underlying cause (greed), only the object (money).

The AI has therefore decided to run another simulation with a modified variable: instead of setting to zero all stored electronic values, the AI will attempt to zero out all debts stored electronically in every computer on the planet.

[ Handwavium: sleeper virus spread through electrical system and capable of hopping over radio/wifi/cell signals activating backdoors installed at a manufacturer level since 00:00:00 UTC on all computer systems ]

Will this experiment crash the economy and cause massive casualties in its simulated world environment? The AI would prefer to avoid those outcomes at all costs, but recognizes the variability of human nature and the sometimes complex outcomes of cascading micro-changes spread throughout a system.

The AI also recognizes that this modified variable also does not correct cause:greed, but is programmatically exploring its options and outcomes.

posted almost 9 years ago

corporeal‭

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