4 ms·
A nice side effect of UBI is that this scenario you describe, plus the hundreds of other undesirable jobs that people are forced to do now to have shelter that
by zanny 6y ago
A nice side effect of UBI is that this scenario you describe, plus the hundreds of other undesirable jobs that people are forced to do now to have shelter that thus subsidize their real costs would be hugely pressured to automate them.
In a UBI economy the economic pressure to get self driving trucks would be an order of magnitude greater, creating financial incentives for Google et al to pour more money into AI research to achieve it because the market value is so much greater when truckers are demanding much higher pay to justify the labor when they have a choice in it.
The same would apply to an automated garbage truck that can use CV to scan refuse and collect it via a standardized bucket system rather than having two impoverished desperate humans cling to the back of the truck being paid dirt to do one of the most dangerous jobs in the country.
UBI would probably be the most beneficial policy to spur the R&D that gets us to singularity the fastest.
- atom_arranger 6y agoIf UBI is implemented minimum wage could also be removed. At present we have a situation where there are probably many very non-sucky jobs that could be done, but it’s not commercially viable to employ people for them at minimum wage. Maybe some of the existing sucky customer service type jobs are only as bad as they are because companies are forced to extract $x/hour. e.g. if McDonalds could maybe they’d hire more people at a lower rate and make the job less stressful, resulting in happier employees and customers. As things are McDonalds must extract $x/hour or they will not be profitable, this ensures it’s a terrible place to work, and usually understaffed.
- zanny 6y agoReplacing minium wage with UBI is definitely a net good. Don't buy the "companies will start treating you humanely if only they could pay you less". Corporations, particularly publicly traded ones, are in competition for profit. In most sectors exploiting your employees to the fullest presents a positive return on quarterlies no matter how much or little you pay them. Maximizing return on dollars committed is fundamental to growing revenues. UBI helps improve worker condition by making the negotiation between labor and capital more equitable. So long as one person comes to the table for their needs and the other comes for their ones the former is always disadvantaged and ripe for exploitation.