"They are terrified of the future."
This is the reasoning behind why many of the technology leaders favor universal basic income, at least according to Annie Lowrey.
journalist Annie Lowrey explained why the tech sector has started talking about this seriously: “They’re terrified” of the future they might create.
“They’re like, ‘This world will be better, but not if everybody is miserable,’” said Lowrey,
“They are like, ‘What is going to happen with AI is, you’re going to get this kind of flywheel-type effect where technologies are going to be self-improving, and so anything automated is all of a sudden going to be done by a machine,’” she added. “A lot of them point to trucks and taxis as being kind of like a first vanguard of this, but then they say, ‘Why not anything else? What if every shop you walk into has nobody in it because a robot is restocking? What if we need way fewer nurses and doctors because an AI-assisted system is just so much better at diagnosing and curing you?’”
This is a point we try to drive home in our posts. We at the Manna Project feel that the advancement of technology is going to be a problem for the job market. In addition to the billions who are already living in poverty, we fear there will be many more in the developed countries who are casualties of automation. Since the skills required for success in an automated economy are vastly different from those of today, we see many people having difficulty adjusting.
When will this point be embraced by the larger percentage of society? It is hard to tell but Lowrey does bring up a valid point.
“Let’s say that there’s a company — and maybe it’s one of the self-driving, Waymo or something — and Waymo, all of a sudden, is responsible for putting 30,000 people out of a job in one month,” she said. “I think at that point they are going to feel a lot of political pressure to say, ‘Here’s the stuff that we’re doing to not just help higher-income people scoot around San Francisco a little bit easier. Here’s what we’re doing.’”
Sadly, we have to agree with her. This situation will not get the attention it requires until it is too late. Politicians tend to reactionary which means they are going to be of little help. It is only after there is a massive shift in employment will it reach their radars.
The best time to approach an issue is before it happens. Technology is moving at a fast pace and, if Lowrey is correct, even the leaders in that field cannot predict the extent of what they are creating. As scary as it might be, the estimated job losses could be underestimated if the tech exceeds even what the brightest minds are envisioning.
Over the next couple years, we are going to be unveiling a number of different programs all designed to help offset the damage to people if this situation does occur. Our goal is to lift up those struggling in the third world nations while also providing a buffer for those who need help in the developed areas.
Poverty does not know any national boundaries.
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For more information about the Manna Project, go to https://www.peoplescurrency.org/
Small correction in the title: it should read 'terrified of the future' Cheers!
I certainly believe that UBI is going to be a major part of the future. There are still a lot of people who point to studies that suggest "job growth" will continue and there will be "more jobs than ever" by 2040.
I'm not seeing it, though... I have a retail store and listen to hundreds of people talk "at street level" and I seem to encounter far more people who were laid off and lost jobs... and have poor prospects because the total number of jobs in their field is 20% down from 20 years ago.
Then again, maybe a lot of those studies are from governments, afraid that the population would freak out if the reports suggested a prolonged decline in jobs.
Even where people retain jobs they are doing more. I was a manager in a global company, 20 years ago I would have had a PA to do all the dull paperwork like booking travel, doing my expenses, filtering my mail, typing letters etc. Now you do all that yourself, its all provided through easy to use technology, that you can do yourself on the move.
The problem seems to be that not only is that full tome PA job gone, but as a manager I'm fulfilling parts of other roles too, and much of it out of hours meaning I was working significant unpaid overtime. Then there is the mental exertion of switching through so many various tasks. So technology has allowed business to load up a few people with ever higher loads of more complex tasks.
The concept of the full working week needs to be adjusted, so that more people each do less.
I support UBI, not because I'm from a third world country (though it does influence me), but because I too fear for my future, this post is really something else, and I'm glad that many important people are starting to see the long term effect of technology.
We do not need to fear the technology, we need to embrace it, however we cannot afford to lose our humanity to machines, we cannot use the wonders of AI and automation to increase the gap between the rich and the poor. I know for a fact that many people with great amount of cash choose to donate or help other people due to their own values as human beings and I believe that UBI is something that we need to make it happen so that humanity as a whole can advance towards the next step.
Maybe you know about the venus project already, if not, take a look here, it's yet another promising view of the future. https://www.thevenusproject.com/