Monday, July 31, 2017

Aaron Berger — We should let the robots take our jobs - and then pay us all a basic income


Thinking outside the box, the box being wage-based capitalism. Are we in the phase transition to the next system?

Instead of "basic income," I would prefer "social dividend."

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We should let the robots take our jobs - and then pay us all a basic income
Aaron Berger

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8 comments:

peterc said...

This may be a bit off topic, but I saw a post on facebook where someone asked what would be left for our own lives if artificial intelligence ever came to exceed our own.

Or similarly it could be asked, if the robots ever became smarter and better than us at everything, what would be the point of life?

I don't know what the limits of AI are, but one possible answer to these questions is that we would be free to focus on learning, exploration, self and group improvement, and play. If these robots are so great, and can compose better music than us, make better movies, kick a football better than us, make superior widgets of all kinds in next to no time, develop better economic theory ..., then we would be educated in all sorts of ways that would enable our own human improvements. We might never match the robots, but our own understanding and appreciation of life and the universe would expand greatly.

Such a prospect need not be scary other than the danger that we don't manage the social transition. Then again, if the robots are so great, surely they can show us the way there too ...

Tom Hickey said...

This may be a bit off topic, but I saw a post on facebook where someone asked what would be left for our own lives if artificial intelligence ever came to exceed our own.

Then, perhaps, more people would use increased leisure to inquire into what life is all about.

There are two aspects of this line of inquiry.

The intellectual tradition that has dominated the West for millennia is about using reason and observation as tools of inquiry.

The introspective tradition that has dominated the East and the mystical tradition in general is about using reflexive consciousness and experience as tools of inquiry.

These too ways of inquiry are now meeting and cross-fertilizing each other, leading to the next phase of human development.

This is my area specialization and I have spent most of my life studying it. My conclusion is that humanity is now embarking on exploring inner space and outer space as "the final frontier."

Exciting times, but it also looks like a bumpy road ahead. Sages have said that humanity is on the brink of a phase transition which which the old will be destroyed so that the new can emerge, phoenix-like, from the ashes.

The present moment in the historical dialectic is a transitional one.

Andrew Anderson said...

Ethical financing of automation would have led to much more sharing of productivity increases anyway but without the expected cries of stealing from the productive to give to the non.

"An ounce of prevention ..."

Matt Franko said...

Peter is probably right there would be a big shift over to the arts... who imo have always got the short shrift except at the top of the arts...

Anonymous said...

Taking the message of peace, and the practice of self-knowledge, out into a modern world: The Message of Peace: NextGen

Kaivey said...

Hi Tom,

I thoroughly recommend the book Individuation And The Absolute, Hegel, Jung, and the Path Towards Wholeness, by Sean Kelly. It's only available second hand and is quite expensive now, but if you ever see it cheap get it. It is also a fantastic introduction to Hegel.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0809133946/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501570284&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=sean+kelly+individuation&dpPl=1&dpID=51CV773H1PL&ref=plSrch

Tom Hickey said...

Thanks, Kevin.

As you say, pricey.

Anonymous said...

By the way, I wanted to mention that 'The Message of Peace: NextGen' is worth looking at solely from the pov of taking any message (including MMT) out into this world. The strategy is light years ahead of the current MMT milieu.

Waiting for the penny to drop ....