Universal Basic Income, How to Sleepwalk Yourself Into Serfdom. Part I: Robotics Will NOT Make Us Jobless
Whoever thinks that a Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a good idea, please think twice. Who pays you has power over you. If the government pays you, the government has power over you. It would be very naïve to think your government is going to give you money without compensation. Maybe you trust your government now, and your government is reliable, but who knows what government you will have in four years?
What is a Universal Basic Income?
UBI is a government-guaranteed payment that each citizen receives. It is also called a citizen’s income, guaranteed minimum income, or basic income. The intention behind the payment is to provide enough to cover the basic cost of living and provide financial security. Everyone gets the same amount of cash: the homeless and the billionaire. No questions asked. Forever. That the idea appeals to cities and countries that have gone bankrupt or have unsustainable financial prospects should give us pause to think. The concept is also seen as a way to offset job losses caused by technology.
Robotics Will NOT Make Us Jobless
Let us start with the last one. The idea that robotics will make us jobless has no solid ground. When the steam engine was developed, jobs changed, but we still had jobs to do. The same for the invention of the internal combustion engine, it changed jobs, but it didn´t cause us to be overwhelmed with free time. Then came computers; they would make every office job unnecessary and would make offices paperless. Look at where we are now, IT has developed into an entire business on its own, and no one could have predicted how big this would get. To bring it more on a personal level, imagine the time that street lights burned on gas. Every evening someone had to light all these street lanterns, one by one. And, in the morning, same ritual but now putting all the lights out. It is hard to imagine now, and yes, this job disappeared when electricity came around, but he found another job, maybe in some electricity-related thing. The invention of the coffee machine saved us time, but it did not cost jobs. On the contrary, I think it is safe to say we never had so many baristas around. Robotics will cause some jobs to disappear, but these will probably be jobs people don´t like anyway. Other jobs related to robotics will appear. And just as with computers, we cannot even imagine what kind of jobs this will be. Who could have predicted in the early eighties that the computer gaming industry would grow bigger than Hollywood?
The drive to fulfill the need for a sense of significance, achieved through a perceived sense of control over one’s life, a sense of social belonging, and a sense of effective social contribution.
S. Rose
John Maynard Keynes, writing in 1930, said `Thus for the first time since his creation man will be faced with his real, his permanent problem — how to use his freedom from pressing economic cares, how to occupy the leisure, which science and compound interest will have won´, and predicted 15-hour working weeks. Indeed, he argued that working 15 hours would only be necessary to satiate our desire to do some toil, as our needs could be satisfied with much less work. That did not age well… We work only a little less while desiring to produce much more and live more comfortably. In other words, we find new goods and services to produce to satisfy new desires (including better healthcare and a better standing of living during periods of morbidity). This trend will continue, and indeed, it would be imprudent to develop a whole system of social security designed to deal with the uncertain consequences of changing labor markets.
How people will find fulfillment in that utopian world is another troubling question. We need responsibility and direction in our lives. We need a purpose, and we need to feel useful, not only to ourselves but also to society. Receiving a reward or money for nothing doesn´t make you feel good. It is not a reward; it is not appreciation. Everything you get for free is worthless.
Mankind is hard-wired to work. We gain satisfaction from it. It gives us a sense of identity, purpose and belonging … we should not be trying to create a world in which most people do not feel the need to work.
N. Boles
When something comes easy, it is easily taken for granted. And while it would be nice to believe otherwise, giving cash handouts to people incentivizes them to try that much less. By removing the financial incentive to work, the government is encouraging idleness. We need human work to improve our lot; the priority is to make sure everyone contributes to the best of their abilities to society. These abilities are very unequally distributed. Not everyone has a passion, and not everyone is equally talented. Not everyone can be an entrepreneur or an artist. Our economies also need construction workers, welders, plumbers, electricians, nurses, firefighters, and policemen. Some people go into these jobs with passion, others because it pays the bills, but anyway, these jobs need to be done. Most people need to feel valued and productive, to live meaningful lives, to support and nourish loving families, to be creative, and develop their full potential. For them, a life of idleness on borderline poverty, paid by taxing others, does not seem like a desirable future. Quality of life requires a new way of thinking about work, not government handouts so we can stay home and binge-watch series all day.
Interesting links:
Universal Basic Income, How To Sleepwalk Yourself Into Serfdom. Part II: Government: The Hand That Feeds and Takes
Universal Basic Income, How To Sleepwalk Yourself Into Serfdom. Part III: Digital Currencies, Total Control
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