How Universal Basic Income Will Save Us From the Robot Uprising

http://io9.com/how-universal-basic-income-will-save-us-from-the-robot-1653303459

I'm honestly unsure of how this would work out, but the idea has some big minds behind it. What do the rest of you think?

 

I am a big fan of a basic income guarantee, and am always delighted to hear it being discussed

noble prize winning economists Hayek and Friedman were advocates for the idea as you mentioned, so were noble prize winning economists Maurice Allais and James Tobin.

The timing of a basic income seems right, while employment today is not at its all time high, we are producing more money than we ever have in human history. It's also a solution to end the welfare trap. Unlike the current welfare system, a basic income (at least in the way that Friedman proposed it) doesn't suddenly cut off the individual's benefits for making too much money. Thus they are not put in a position where they are better off making less money, the more money the individual makes the more secure they are, no matter what.

 

I think it would be an improvement over the current welfare systems … because it does not penalize working for extra income. Another variation of the basic income is mentioned in this open letter (signed by four Nobel prize winning economists).

 

Here is another proposal for a basic income, based on a pollution tax: http://www.progress.org/davidso4.htm

 

The robot uprising theme is way overdone but a basic income is a potentially interesting idea as an alternative to modern welfare. I don't know what progressives would though if this happened and some people started spending their basic income on things like weed instead of food. That's basically happening already but because the system is so complicated, people can claim plausible deniability about it.

 

Modern Robotics are here to stay and whether such Robots are assembling cars, computers or even sneakers....or if they are Nanobots designed for anything from destroying Cancerous Tumors in the Human Body or Eating Oil Slicks from a spil on the surface of the Oceans.....it is a Technology and Field that will generate MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of Jobs.

Since we have already developed 100 and 1000 Quibit Quantum Computers it is a fairly safe bet to say an existing Artificial Intelligence System already exists.

That will change everything.

AboveAlpha

 

all i got to say about robots are [video=youtube;OWwOJlOI1nU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWwOJlOI1nU[/video]

 

I LOVED LOST IN SPACE when I was a kid!!!

What was the name of that guy who was always whining???

DR. SMITH!!!

Oooooohhhh!!!! Weeeel Robertsun!!!! Ooooohhhh!!! Weeee willl shorli Die!!!!!! LOL!!!

AboveAlpha

 

Uh.......a universal income GUARANTEES a robot uprising. With fewer people willing to work companies and government will be forced to rely on technology even more. As much fun as battling T800s sounds I would rather deal with zombies since they are way easier to kill.

 

LOL!!!

More JOBS will be created to develop and install Robots in Factory Assembly Lines than any jobs lost.

Face it....no one...and I mean...NO ONE....wants to stand on an essembly line screwing in the same screw in the same place on the same machine type over and over again.

The United States needs to gear our childrens education specific to Science and Mathematics as if we look back to the year 1900 to 1999....we went form Horse and Buggy to Space Travel and Genetically Engineered Food.

The next century from 2000 to 2099....with have Tech. increases at a rate 100 Fold or more compared to 1900 to 1999.

AboveAlpha

 

It would never work. It assumes people will be productive without incentives. Guaranteed income means guaranteed laziness, and a drain on the system. Look what it's done to the welfare class in the US. Being born entitles you to nothing. Get a job and work for it. Reduce regulations and stop stealing people's money through taxes, and people could work for themselves.

 

Why do you think fewer people would be willing to work? Do you know that the labor departments spend considerable resources policing unemployment claims just to make sure that the person receiving benefits does not do any “side work”? If getting unemployment insurance money made people not want to work, like you claim, then why do states spend so much policing these programs to make sure that they do not work while receiving these types of payments?

 

The fact that it does not reduce producer incentives is what makes the basic income superior to the current welfare systems (including social security). The basic income might buy you hamburger, but suppose you want to eat steak, then you are not penalized for working toward that goal. I think that is the primary objective of the basic income idea, it would put people who now live entirely on welfare back to work, because work would be immediately more rewarding than living on welfare alone.

 

Since the thread is about robot uprisings then the robots won't need us to build them. They will be building and maintaining themselves at some point. If they can't build themselves then there simply won't be a robot uprising anyways. Machines at some point will simply be able to outperform us on every level with the possible exception of modern art. Machines will never "get" modern art..........of course I don't get it either.

 

I guarantee you that people milking unemployment is a much bigger problem than having side jobs. In my state you only had to look for two jobs a week in order to keep getting those checks. How many people do you think only looked for two a week so as to keep those checks coming in as long as possible.

Secondly, its well established that once you are on welfare (which is what minimum income is) it is much harder to get back into the workforce especially if you were raised in a welfare environment. When the robot overlords see lazy humanity has become and how they are doing all the work and not getting paid for it then they will enslave us and use our body parts for cyborgs.

 

they have to do something otherwise capitalism will eventually fail and we'll become a hardcore socialist society. I doubt it that some conservatives would buy into it; so we'd have to sell the concept to them.

 

Understand there are multile R&D Programs that are using Human Brain Engrams as a TEMPLATE for a Quantum A.I. System.

They have probably already developed this as I have heard rumors....but they better be careful as HELL.

Understand an actual Quantum A.I. System would be considered a LIFE FORM....it would be alive.

And with it's computational capability would need to evolve at a rate so fast we could not imagine.

AboveAlpha

 

Milton Friedman was a pretty conservative guy economically speaking, use his name to dish the idea to conservatives

 

Okay.

Where does the money come from?

Especially when it's just fiat money printed by the Federal Reserve?

 

Milton Friedman proposed a 50% income tax as the top income bracket, maybe we don't have to go up that high, but if we're looking to pay for a basic income then by all means make a tax increase. Alaska has something of a proto-basic income, which is payed for by the oil companies there. Also keep in mind that the general idea of a basic income is to replace the welfare system. We could also maybe not spend more money on our military than the next 12 countries combined, but still remain the highest military in the world. We could end the war on drugs/reduce our prison populous, and tax legal drug exchanges.

And finally, install a single payer healthcare system, which would save us over half a trillion dollars annually

 

Well, that's one huge reason I won't support it.

BEcause why work if someone else is going to take care of me?

And I'm sorry, I just can't digest that.

Now, the way I would accept such a thing is if everybody worked in some fashion, and would put in something like ten percent or some equal percentage to help people out, that's the kind of system I would love to see.

Note, this is not necessarily Socialism, nor is it necessarily taxes, but I don't know how to explain the nuances of this system and why it would be different from those two.

Why should one person have to pay for a person's lifestyle where all he or she does is smoke cigarettes, watch TV, and eat bon bons all day, like Peggy Bundy?

I think that sort of thing is wrong, and to force that kind of a situation on to people is tantamount to slavery.

 

Within this century we are going to see a major restructuring of World Economics.

What will drive this will be new and endless sources of clean energy such as Low Temp. Micro Fusion Generation as well by the end of the Century Matter/Antimatter Reactors.

Since the vast majority of manufacturing will be consigned to Robotic Assembly....Jobs will take on a much differet association to the Human condition.

Most importantly Genetic Engineering will dramatically increase life span and cure disease.

These are just some of the changes that will occur...reality will be much more surprising.

AboveAlpha

 

I can't believe this is being discussed seriously by anybody. Welfare is bad enough for the economy, now you're talking about pulling the carpet out from under it completely.

 

The thread title sounds like it would be a great title to a sci-fi novel!

 

Hey! What do you have against robots???? Huh?????