[HNKingpin]

>Now, this also assumes that people become literally useless in the automated future, compared to systems. It's possible - if unlikely - that humans always move on to a higher frontier of uniquely human work once the previous one becomes automated. In that scenario, UBI could be a great way to ride that transition. Also, partial UBI, meant only to give people a platform for growth in a world that still has jobs for them, could be a good way to combat economic inequality.

What you're missing is that not everyone will be qualified to do those tougher new jobs. Especially the people who are now working at McDonalds, as cashiers, etc.

[_bxg1]

I don't buy the idea that people are fundamentally "smart" and "stupid", or "creative" and "uncreative". I think those things mostly depend on what kind of environment you grow up in, and what your self-perception is.

[nercht12]

To your credit, most people probably have an average brain (and roughly the same brain power) that is simply wired differently and focuses on different things. One person is more practical, another more aesthetic, another more mathematical, etc. However, the way you SPEND your brain power has an effect on the kinds of outcomes you get. If you spend all day thinking about cattle, you're not going to understand economics (much less why anyone would want to go to Mars). I'd like to say that's "obvious", but (sadly) to many people, it's not.

Also to your credit, the environment (you grow up in) does have an effect on you significantly, and it shapes what about you is drawn out as well as what information you have to begin with. Someone growing up in the ghetto isn't going to understand the life of the gentry in France. Someone with poor education isn't going to see why they need math for life (until maybe too late).

In short, we all start with a decent brain and a certain wiring. Environment draws out or suppresses who we are, but more importantly, gives us starting information to work with, and this shapes our views and ways of thinking.