I see more or less this same question on every Hacker News thread about automation: "How will humans stay employed when machines can do everything better and ch

I see more or less this same question on every Hacker News thread about automation: "How will humans stay employed when machines can do everything better and cheaper?" And the answer I most often see is to have a universal basic income, which makes sense to me. The main argument against basic income in the United States is that it discourages people from working. I think that's probably true, and in this country we see work as a virtue and an obligation. But I don't think the only thing we should seek from automation is to increase profits for business owners; we should also see it as improving human life in general by making work less necessary. And if work isn't necessary, shouldn't we provide a replacement for income that workers lose out on by the decreased availability of employment? I guess that's not the only solution to the problem. I could also see the government taxing automated labor to artificially inflate its cost and thus encourage businesses to employ humans. I don't think it's as good of a solution, but it would solve the problem too.