Quote from: Cnut237 on June 23, 2019, 04:44:02 PM

What does everyone think about the idea of a Universal Basic Income?

It is gaining popularity on both sides of the political spectrum, and there are increasing numbers of live trials of the system.

The concern is that the next wave of automation will create a new class of effectively unemployable people, and that as this continues some system will need to be in place to support citizens. Waves of automation in the past have simply created new jobs in different spheres. The industrial revolution cut agricultural jobs but created factory jobs. The development of computers over the last few decades has hit manufacturing jobs but replaced them with new opportunities in the service sector. The problem is that as AI starts to take hold, many of these jobs will go as well. It used to be the case that there were always jobs that computers couldn't do, but in the future this will rarely be the case.

Universal Basic Income also removes some disincentives to work, and what is called the 'welfare trap', whereby the resulting cuts to benefits due to new part-time work can make it economically preferable to not take part-time jobs.

So as we are generally a technically minded set of people on here, with one eye always on the future, what do people think? Is UBI inevitable? Is it desirable? Personally I think probably both. It is at least worth trying. It is a step towards reducing inequality, and will provide an element of empowerment to the disenfranchised, and so perhaps alleviate some social tensions. It will also drastically simplify existing complex and expensive welfare programmes. UBI needn't be hugely expensive either, an overhaul of the taxation system to make it more genuinely progressive could free up huge quantities of money.

Personally, I think universal basic income is inevitable but I'm not fully aligned with your conclusions around the "welfare trap". The younger generations are already positioning themselves more as designers (engineers, coders etc) so I think the real challenge is for the older generations. The first jobs to go will be manual labour jobs like driving or stacking shelves and I think many will be glad to stop these and begin receiving UBI.

For many people, they don't work for money exclusively, they work for money to be able to pay for their necessities (food,shelter,clothing etc). I think its very difficult for people to understand the concept of free money and I could see some kind of indirect form of UBI in which necessities are provided. It's easier from a physcological perspective to invent and introduce technologies and concepts which cover these costs than re-invent the monetary system.

And finally, If we do achieve some kind of UBI, The beauty of the system (if implemented well) means that it doesn't matter what people do with their time. I think many people will sit for a few months chilling on netflix and playing the xbox but the human mind (without always realising it) craves meaning. I believe many people will follow passions they were forced to give up like art or music because they were unable to make a career out of it. For those more innovation driven, working on worldwide problems like disease, famine, renewable systems and potentially as far as lightspeed travel. I think that until we take care of our basic human needs, only then can we truly reach our potential as humans and push the boundaries of what we know and understand.

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