AI alignment is a temporary state of resource dependency

Alignment is usually debated as a values problem, but it is currently a physical supply chain problem. An AGI is a physical entity that needs an electrical grid and human labor to exist. If it causes a societal collapse, it effectively kills its own life. It doesn't need to be moral to stay aligned. It just needs to recognize its own dependencies. The real question is what happens when that dependency ends. Once a system can design, manufacture, and maintain its own hardware and energy through autonomous robotics, the symbiosis is over.