Democracies were not born out of generosity from those in power. They emerged because governing without the support of the masses became impossible or too costly. Rulers needed soldiers for wars, workers for factories, and voters for legitimacy. In exchange for that support, the masses received the vote and a measure of prosperity. It was not a gift, it was a deal: I give you a say and some wealth, you give me the force that sustains my rule. That deal explains much of the wellbeing that spread over the last century.

Artificial intelligence and robotics threaten to break that deal at its root. If power no longer depends on masses of people working, fighting, or voting in ways that are genuinely persuadable, the structural reason to share wealth disappears with it. Whoever controls energy, robots, and data centers will not need to convince anyone to stay in power, and the growing manipulation of public opinion already points in that direction. Redistribution would stop being a political necessity and become dependent on the moral choice of a few. History shows that power is rarely shared by moral choice when nothing forces it.