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▲ cedws 11 hours ago

>My technical skills are being disrupted by machines - that's fine I'll go do other things. [links to long bike trip]

Ok that's cool and all but many of us have bills to pay. Bike trips don't pay the bills. Software people have been economically advantaged up until now that they can go and do stuff like that.

▲rc-1140 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Even software people have bills to pay and mouths to feed. I think people like the article author are either single or have no dependents, and it's a big reason I cannot take many of these posts seriously. Much like the story of Peter Pan, the authors of these posts are college students who never grew up and had to be responsible.

▲ehnto an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Software is just another job in many countries, making pretty normal middle class wages. Job loss will hit us the same as any other middle class worker.

▲block_dagger 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Within a few years I think UBI or UBS will be required for people to continue living, in which case basic needs (bills) won't be a concern. There's just no way for us to transition fast enough to avoid high unemployment as AI replaces large swaths of jobs. I do worry about the ~10 year transition it will take for societal governments to react.

▲cedws 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I think UBI is a pipe dream. I live in the UK and even with our social safety net which is much stronger than the US's, I can't imagine the government ever handing out money adequate to live a middle class life to large chunk of the population.

UBI has problems that far as I know haven't been addressed. Vast numbers of people no longer being occupied doesn't seem like it would lead to a healthy society. And how do you uphold democracy when the government is effectively handing out the paychecks?

▲andai 10 hours ago | parent [-]

Recently: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46977175

Not quite UK, and not very big, but somewhat promising :)

>How do you uphold democracy

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-poli...

>Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.

Can't uphold what isn't there, lol

As for how do we avoid becoming WALL-E blobs... elite opinion seems to suggest the UBI will be just enough to prevent people from going into the streets with pitchforks, but not enough for a dignified life. (Enough to live in ze pod and eat ze proverbial bugs.)

I don't see employment being a very big thing (unless AI creates some kinda fake jobs economy to pacify the humans, which would be a rational thing to do).

The crisis of meaning is going to be worse than the economic crisis, and I think people would literally pay to work rather than question their existence on such a deep level.

Beyond fake jobs and human-only jobs (robot can't replace the cute barista at Starbucks!), I think entrepreneurship will be the only real vehicle. So... basically how it already is today.

▲carlosjobim 3 hours ago | parent [-]

> Not quite UK, and not very big, but somewhat promising :)

Rulers have given stipends to artists and scholars for hundreds of years. There's hardly anything new about it.

Make the art or science that satisfies the duke or the glorious district chairman and you will be on the receiving end of these benefits.

▲rmoriz 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

UBI/UBS requires a very solidaric community. But the current situation (in Germany) is not about finding any job but taking a low paid, hard working or even dangerous job (nursing service, shifter, even soldier, public sector).

UBI makes it even harder to find people for that kind of jobs. Not paying any social benefits and increasing the pressure on the unemployed to take these jobs is much more interesting for everyone that is not unemployed. Please don't judge me for writing this. It's the feeling I have, not my view.

▲cermicelli 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Only way UBI works is if the govts increase taxes on all income or any income to almost 90%+...

And then re-distribute to each person accordingly. That ain't happening, no govt will be willing to try that, and rich won't let that happen, they will become slightly rich from very rich. that just ain't happening.

▲ 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]
[deleted]
▲carlosjobim 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Have you heard about the last century? A few governments did that. You had to stand in line for food and your basic goods.

▲senordevnyc 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Within a few years I think UBI or UBS will be required for people to continue living, in which case basic needs (bills) won't be a concern. There's just no way for us to transition fast enough to avoid high unemployment as AI replaces large swaths of jobs. I do worry about the ~10 year transition it will take for societal governments to react.

This strikes me as wildly optimistic. People aren't going to be able to live on UBI at a level where massive political and social unrest is averted unless it's like $2k per person per month, minimum. And I'm skeptical that the US government is going to start printing $8.5 trillion dollars of UBI in the next decade.

▲sieabahlpark 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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