Universal Basic Income: Why Elon Musk Thinks It May Be The Future

[Suppressed]

Universal Basic Income: Why Elon Musk Thinks It May Be The Future
BY GREG ROBINSON ON 01/04/18 AT 12:27 PM
http://www.ibtimes.com/universal-basic-income-why-elon-musk-thinks-it-may-be-future-2636105

Universal basic income (UBI), an unconditional allowance afforded to all citizens for the bare essentials of life, is an old idea that’s garnered support from members of both the left and right. Notable supporters have been as disparate as civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. and libertarian economist Milton Friedman. The Nixon Administration even attempted to pass a basic income guarantee through Congress and failed only narrowly due to a disagreement as to how much the stipend should be.

Now, the debate over universal basic income is being renewed by industry leaders and billionaires who include Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson and Elon Musk, among others.

As automation approaches, the world is faced with the problem of displacement. One Oxford study predicts 47 percent [PDF] of jobs are at a high risk of computerization in the next two decades. Previously, the authors published a study that seemed to be much more optimistic about the rate of replacement for workers. Their latest study seems to suggest that human workers are now losing the race against automation.

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Also has interesting video of robot waiters at a restaurant in India.

[Sanguine]

I used to think this was a socialist fantasy, but I'm coming to think this may well be the future.  If, as is predicted, more and more jobs are taken over by robots/AI fewer people will need to work and there will be fewer jobs.  I find the idea quite disturbing, but it may well happen.

[Cripplecreek]

I used to think this was a socialist fantasy, but I'm coming to think this may well be the future.  If, as is predicted, more and more jobs are taken over by robots/AI fewer people will need to work and there will be fewer jobs.  I find the idea quite disturbing, but it may well happen.

There is a fairly lengthy discussion about that in Roger MacBride Allen's / Asimov's "Inferno". A thousand years of robots doing all the work had made mankind into wards of the robots with all kinds of social problems due to the fact that humans didn't need to do anything and had no responsibility.

[dfwgator]

What could possibly go wrong?

[LMAO]

 The problem with this is  where is the money going to come from to guarantee everybody a basic minimum income? In order to do that you have to print the  money.  Print too much money and the value of it goes down  and purchasing power also declines

A better idea to mitigate the effects of AI is to avoid misguided government policies like a $15 minimum wage

[Frank Cannon]

Universal Basic Income: Why Elon Musk Thinks It May Be The Future

Of course this guy is peddling this. He is America's largest welfare queen.

[truth_seeker]

Charles Murray, prolific writer and political philosopher, has advanced "basic income," as a means to provide a universal safety net, instead of the huge multiple government bureaucracies to administer many separate safety nets.

Consider however, a druggie with "basic income" gets  a $1,000 check on the 1st of the month. By the 5th it is gone, he is back living under the bridge, begging for food and drugs just as before.

Without Basic Income, his $200 check only lasted one day.

[Sanguine]

Charles Murray, prolific writer and political philosopher, has advanced "basic income," as a means to provide a universal safety net, instead of the huge multiple government bureaucracies to administer many separate safety nets.

Consider however, a druggie with "basic income" gets  a $1,000 check on the 1st of the month. By the 5th it is gone, he is back living under the bridge, begging for food and drugs just as before.

Without Basic Income, his $200 check only lasted one day.

Obviously, that is one of the societal impacts of a basic income, which we provide now by giving SSSI to people who are alcoholics and drug addicts.  We provide a basic income for welfare recipients.  And, as low-skilled jobs become harder to find and more low skilled people immigrate here, there will be more and more people provided a living and not having to work for it. 

[Fishrrman]

If it ever comes to the point were legions of people are out-of-work with no prospects of any employment in sight -- because there IS NONE to offer them (due to robots and automation) -- that's when we'll see strict limits on reproduction and who is permitted to have children, in order to (you guessed it) "reduce the surface population" to a manageable level.

[dfwgator]

If it ever comes to the point were legions of people are out-of-work with no prospects of any employment in sight -- because there IS NONE to offer them (due to robots and automation) -- that's when we'll see strict limits on reproduction and who is permitted to have children, in order to (you guessed it) "reduce the surface population" to a manageable level.

[WingNot]

There will always be jobs for Deep Sleep Operatives.

[Cyber Liberty]

Weird scene.  One would think, after a lifetime of watching ceremonies with people flying up to grab the brass ring of "renewal," and every single person getting fried, somebody would wise up that it's just a glorified suicide.

One would think there should have been a lot more Runners.

[sneakypete]

I used to think this was a socialist fantasy, but I'm coming to think this may well be the future.  If, as is predicted, more and more jobs are taken over by robots/AI fewer people will need to work and there will be fewer jobs.  I find the idea quite disturbing, but it may well happen.

@Sanguine

Nah,the plan is to have an alleged socialist take over of the world economy,and then use jobs and homes as half of the carrot or the stick option.  Become a member of the borg in good standing,and you might be ALLOWED to have ONE child,a job,and an apartment. You will own nothing. Everything will be owned by the corporate elites who will be the "New Royalty"

"No tickee" for a government approved child equals a government funded (no one else will have the digital funds) mandatory abortion. Maybe even forced sterilization for both the man and the woman.

None of this will happen until paper money is history,and all transactions are digital. All citizens will have a digital bank account number in which to deposit their credits,and to also debit them at the local company stores.

A digital economy is at the core of any future "World Wide Government,Inc" The instant you even hear it proposed as a solution to inflation and other world economic problems is the day you need to start taking up guns and marching on your state capitals and the feral government. Wait too long and you won't even be able to buy a quart of gas to set yourself on fire with as a protest.

[sneakypete]

Obviously, that is one of the societal impacts of a basic income, which we provide now by giving SSSI to people who are alcoholics and drug addicts.  We provide a basic income for welfare recipients.  And, as low-skilled jobs become harder to find and more low skilled people immigrate here, there will be more and more people provided a living and not having to work for it.

@Sanguine

Can you say "Mandatory Birth Control"?

As for money to treat,feed,house,and water the mentally ill,alcoholics,and drug addicts,it ain't happening. They will all either die or kick their habits because with a digital economy there will be no money to spend on drugs because every transaction MUST be done electronically as debits and credits. Drug dealers can't exist under those conditions. Neither can petty criminals. Why steal something you can't sell?

[Sanguine]

I don't know, Pete.  Not sure if I want to live long enough to see if I'm right or not.

[sneakypete]

I don't know, Pete.  Not sure if I want to live long enough to see if I'm right or not.

@Sanguine

Well,in that case the "good news" for you is they will be more than happy to starve you to death as a homeless person with no shelter from the weather.

MOST people would see this sort of thing as a tragedy. Our Globalist Overlords,aka "DNC financiers" see it as a minor short-term problem that will fix itself in just a few short years.

[GrouchoTex]

They've started by trying to get us all to universal health care.
Some are saying no borders. now.
Next, a universal income.
Followed by, a universal living quarters arraignment,
a universal food allotment,
a universal water allotment,
a universal etc,etc,etc....

Eff off.

[Suppressed]

I'm leaning more and more toward instituting a UBI, and eliminating (just about?) all other forms of public assistance.

[WingNot]

Saint Elon needs to focus on figuring out how to successfully launch Sats into space without them going bangbitch.

[Cyber Liberty]

I'm leaning more and more toward instituting a UBI, and eliminating (just about?) all other forms of public assistance.

How do you prevent the problem mentioned above, where druggies waste the money and don't spend it on silly things like food and housing?

[truth_seeker]

How do you prevent the problem mentioned above, where druggies waste the money and don't spend it on silly things like food and housing?

You prevent it by providing some early and certain harsh examples.

Maybe some churches will set up, outside city limits to house and feed them.

My area hss seen huge and rapid growth of homeless in public areas; parks, beaches, county owned river paths.

I can't seem to find even a single church in town with any campsites for homeless. Not one.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Meh... get rid of all welfare, food stamps, etc. and replace with a reasonable UBI. What's not to love really?

[Oceander]

You prevent it by providing some early and certain harsh examples.

Maybe some churches will set up, outside city limits to house and feed them.

My area hss seen huge and rapid growth of homeless in public areas; parks, beaches, county owned river paths.

I can't seem to find even a single church in town with any campsites for homeless. Not one.

Harsh examples rarely change the behavior of those most in need of it. 

[Cyber Liberty]

Harsh examples rarely change the behavior of those most in need of it.

Rarely?  You are being charitable, how about "Never?"  Money paid to these folks would have to come in the form of vouchers, very little cash.

[truth_seeker]

For a basic income card, technology could do a "timed release" of funds, as well as restrict the authorized uses.