Hacker Read top | best | new | newcomments | leaders | about | bookmarklet login

> Then we should start planning now by stopping the notion that being a good, moral person includes earning a wage.

> There are big political issues with achieving UBI. One of them is reversing that notion.

So, in other words, we're fucked. I don't think an economy where the majority people are economically unproductive and lack an ownership claim will be survivable for those people, and that seems like what UBI would be.

I think the trajectory will be something like one of these:

1. We keep our current economic system and ideology, maybe tack on UBI, and the unemployed are eventually slowly (or quickly) escorted out of existence. At some point the people who still contribute to the economy will get tired of paying so much to support the unemployed, and will use their de-facto monopoly on economic power to stop. The method most compatible with our prevalent moral frameworks is suppressing reproduction of people supported by UBI.

2. Some kind of outright socialism/communism. The idea of individual ownership is abolished or severely curtailed, and all capital is managed by some centrally-planned authority a-la the Soviet Union. Basically, you have no option except live on UBI. There's still some chance of the unemployed being escorted out of existence, if the political authority can be hijacked by an authoritarian who wants to get rid of them.

3. There's some kind of luddite ban on "too much" automation, or an Amish-like control and suppression of technology based on its adverse cultural impacts.



view as:

Legal | privacy