Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by esperent 2208 days ago
The logically conclusion is either mass starvation or abolishing wages.

Basic income is just a stopgap. In a hundred, or two hundred, or five hundred years, if technology continues apace, basically all work that is not science/caregiving will be done by machines. How can an economy based around wages exist in a world where humans don't work?

1 comments

There's something of a Scylla and Charybdis thing going on, where if humans become too valuable, it becomes worth it to exploit them, but if they're not valuable enough, it's not worth it to pay them.

Tech can move things either way---automating things can make people worthless, but providing new tools (Engelbart's "bicycle for the mind") can make them more valuable.

Formula 1 drivers are valuable athletes, but in 1850 they'd just have been guys with slightly better reflexes.