[nebula8804]

The robots. The concept of UBI is precipitated on the idea that the gains from technological innovation have been unequally distributed since the founding of the country. It has just been getting to the point where it is very evident to many people now.

In fact Thomas Paine wrote:

"To understand what the state of society ought to be, it is necessary to have some idea of the natural and primitive state of man; such as it is at this day among the Indians of North America. There is not, in that state, any of those spectacles of human misery which poverty and want present to our eyes in all the towns and streets in Europe,"

[1]: https://heavy.com/news/2019/06/thomas-paine-ubi/

[Melatonic]

The real secret is to be the guy who can fix the robots - the new blue collar. Doesn't matter which way the world turns out - either way you're living comfortably and coasting below the radar.

[nebula8804]

Private equity will own the robots. UBI is not all roses. It will be a way to give the masses a way to live their lives with a minimum amount of dignity and prevent a complete revolt once all jobs are gone through no fault of the people. This will likely also close off the remaining avenues to escape the lower middle class into upper classes. Whoever acquired capital early on wins and everyone else is stuck like in the centuries past. Think about it. Most of the 'new' billionaires are from tech which was an odd fork in history that the old elite clearly didn't see coming. Now the new rich will be pulling that ladder up from behind them once the robots do every job and UBI gives you a bread and circus.

[ModernMech]

Until they build a robot to fix robots. The real secret is to be the guy who designs robots, because robot designer will be the absolute last job to be automated :P