| These all are very interesting points, but I think most are centred around unemployment benefits, rather than UBI. This pandemic made me realise how fortunate we are for living in Europe - literally any part of the eu, has done a better job at helping people and making sure they dont starve, compared to the US. Thats a great observation! Europe is indeed very close to UBI. The only issue is it finances it through more taxes on an individual’s output and is not universal. People who want more than basics can demand it as much as they want. Thats not UBI, thats lazy and scrounging. Go get a job. Period. The point you are making re even more taxation is also spot on - that is why my view is that instead of taxing current workers even more we instead invest in tech that leads to even more productivity growth and we tax the difference in that new productivity gain. I dread more taxation, as it usually means more taxes for us, less for those who disproportionately benefit from increases in tech and automation, due to the current economic system. For example if BMW automates 10x more of their assembly lines, then tax the gain in productivity but NOT at a level where it punishes said growth, rather at a level where both BMW and the taxman are happy. Money go into a UBI pot much like norway’s sovereign investment fund. Tech can be treated like a natural resource that we all own, but none of us have exclusive rights over it, while those who successfully exploit it will get more of the pie. Apply the same to all sorts of manufacturing, agriculture and anything else that can be automated. The money in that pot go to everyone in the country, and this is where UBI is radically different from unemployment benefits. Everyone gets a share, meaning those already in employment will get a tax cut and those not in employment don't get the stigma associated with benefits. Dont worry about people immigrating to the us - the very workers we automate out of jobs dread us highly skilled immigrants, as they dint see the benefits from our work - more than taking pictures with shiny new iphones - and they want us to stay out, by voting for Trump. TL;DR I guess I have a few random ideas about an ideal world where we use tech for building a star trek like society, where basics are no longer an issue and all we do is advance our society. |
I see where you're coming from, but that only works with stable prices. Prices aren't stable. Technology, automation lowers prices (or increases quality). Your 2020 BMW is nothing like the 1970ies BMW, and had you wanted a 2020 BMW in 1970, you would've had to pay outrageous sums of money.
> TL;DR I guess I have a few random ideas about an ideal world where we use tech for building a star trek like society, where basics are no longer an issue and all we do is advance our society.
I believe the general issue is that it wouldn't be an issue at all if everyone was like you. The harsh reality is that most people are not. It's like anyone that read Kant and who felt the categorical imperative resonate with them, and they go "why do we need laws? I wouldn't act in a malicious way". We don't have laws to regulate their behavior, we have laws for the vast majority who didn't read Kant or don't care about what would happen to society if everybody acted like they do.
You likely live in somewhat of a bubble, your friends are usually similar to yourself etc. I have no doubt that a lot of your well-meaning ideas would work great with them. I also have little doubt that they won't with the population at large, because they are very different. It's like a bunch of people who read books talking about information dispersal, not keeping in mind that a large chunk of the target audience is functionally illiterate.
> Dont worry about people immigrating to the us - the very workers we automate out of jobs dread us highly skilled immigrants, as they dint see the benefits from our work - more than taking pictures with shiny new iphones - and they want us to stay out, by voting for Trump.
It's the high-skilled workers in the US who compete with high-skilled immigration, it's a benefit for the low-skill workers, as we'd usually bring know-how and taxes, create jobs and generally improve society. The low-skill workers vote for Trump to stop low-skill immigration, they don't mind high-tech billionaires like Elon Musk or Peter Thiel.