[ExI] Universal basic income

[spike]

From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Jason Resch
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2017 11:01 AM
To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Subject: Re: [ExI] Universal basic income

 

>…This article analyzes some numbers: http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-guaranteed-income-for-every-american-1464969586

 

>…So long as the GDP stays the same or increases though the automation that triggers unemployment, there will be the money to support it. Without a universal income, this is the future economy we have to look forward to: https://twitter.com/nickwiger/status/675850176204947456?lang=en  Jason

 

 

 

I have been pondering John’s commentary and wondering why our views on society diverge so far, such that our individual roads ahead appear to be in nearly opposite directions.  It occurred to me that I might be projecting, based on my own experience in life, constantly comparing my son’s life to my own.  His community, his school, his everything in life is soooooo muuuuuch better in every way that counts, a much safer, kinder, gentler community than the one I experience when I was the age he is now (10 years) it causes me to extrapolate forward and perhaps project that his son will have it even better in the ways that count.

 

For instance...  he is in his sixth year at this local elementary school and has never SEEN, hasn’t ever even seen a real fist fight.  How many of those did you see at elementary school?  Hell those happened every week when I was that age, and regardless of how peaceful one was, only the lucky managed to never be directly involved in one.  Six hundred students, six years, never even a real fight, never an old fashioned kick that other feller’s goddam ass, only a few half-hearted tussles with no serious intent to harm.  His world is free of gangs, graffiti, vandalism, drugs.  We had all that when we were his age where I grew up (not far from that town where Travon Martin and George Zimmerman had their fundamental disagreement.)

 

Although we see different outcomes, we agree on some things: eventually we will build K2s which can build nearly anything.  Then we will be looking for some kind of employment, but a logical thing to me is for really rich guys to build marvelous castles.  If so, the poor communities are a perfectly logical place to put those: you have plenty of eager and grateful employees available to build the monstrosities and staff them after the fact.  

 

Those employees gain skills which they can take elsewhere, offering them a ticket out of poverty.  It increases the value of the local real estate if a super-rich guy builds a castle there.  It relieves overcrowding.  The block of people who sold the rich guy their homes are all now rich themselves (depending on who you compare them to.)  Conclusion: as robots make stuff for us, home building will still be done by human labor, for those are not mass produced and will be damn hard to automate.  So… big fine ostentatious homes seem like a perfectly reasonable thing for humans to do.

 

spike

 

 

 

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