I laugh at all those trumpholes who think immigrants are the root of unemployment issues. Hold on – it’s not just trumpholes anymore! These geniuses are starting to spread all over the world now. You have them in England, Spain, Brazil… Hell we even prefer letting people starve in the middle of the sea rather than helping them out in today’s world! Meh… Anyways, let’s talk about Universal Basic Income.
Millions of people in the US are going to be facing unemployment sooner than later. And, if we’re talking about a global scale, the number is in the billions.
The reason? AI, automation and technology.
That’s right. It’s not Juan Valdes crossing the border or jumping a wall mate. It’ll be machines who are going to make it incredibly easy for big companies and corporations to fire people and make it incredibly hard for humans to find a job. And this is going to happen sooner than later.
Think about it – how many jobs has technology already replaced? So far, for the most part, we’ve been able to accommodate workers to do other things because computer algorithms weren’t able to replace human cognition and emotion. This isn’t the case anymore. With the emergence of AI and biotech, our friends at Silicon Valley are getting better than ever at teaching machines how to function like our very own amygdala and limbic system do.
Let’s take a look at some of the workplaces that are very close to completely disappearing.
Biotech & infotech are real
Self-driving cars are safer. Self-driving trucks are more efficient. Hell even self-driving airplanes will outperform humans in efficiency and safety. Annual car accident fatalities double those from war, crime and terrorism combined. I’m truly sorry for truck and taxi divers losing their jobs, but if we can reduce the amount of people (by approximate 90%) that die in car accidents by automating vehicles I’m all for it.
It’s not just about the transportation industry though. Sooner than later programmers, lawyers, doctors… they will all be replaced too. It might sound like a dystopian society, or you might straight up think I’m crazy – but this is going to happen. Machines are eventually going to outperform humans in ways that we aren’t capable of imagining right now. This is why sometimes I laugh when I remember the back old days in school when teachers used to say; You’re not always going to have a computer around you. You need to know Thomas Jefferson’s passing date by heart. Really?
We are literally on our way to merging ourselves with computers. And whoever refuses to do so will eventually see themselves completely out of place in society.
What does all of this have to do with UBI? Well – given that there are millions of truck drivers, cab/uber drivers and many other millions of workers that could potentially lose their jobs within the next 10 to 20 years – we need to find a way of making sure these people have a viable source of income. I mean, eventually most of humanity will be outperformed by machines which means that there has to exist some kind of UBI available for everyone. Most importantly, we need to give humans a chance at allowing them to find a sense of purpose. We can’t do this if people are too worried about being out of a job and not having enough money to pay for bills.
Socialism, really?
Before anyone jumps out calling me a socialist or a communist… Hold on. Let’s think about this for a second. Universal Basic Income is the next version of capitalism. It is the upgraded and the ideal way of having economical freedom. It’s capitalism at its finest for god’s sake! We are handing out money to people and allowing them to spend it on whatever the hell they want!
The socialist equivalent of UBI would be to collect taxes and have the government decide where to invest the money. How is giving money to people and allowing them to decide where to spend it socialist?
UBI is the next step towards becoming a more efficient society. Giving people the ability to stop worrying about food or rent. This is how it’s done. We give humanity the tools to focus on what really matters – having a sense of purpose. Most people out there don’t live fulfilling lives or invest in their education because they’re too worried about paying their bills in time. We need to act upon this now. Machines don’t sleep!
Recommended reading: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century
