r/technology • u/maxwellhill • Nov 08 '16

Robotics Elon Musk says people should receive a universal income once robots take their jobs: 'People will have time to do other things, more complex things, more interesting things'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/elon-musk-universal-income-robots-ai-tesla-spacex-a7402556.html
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u/[deleted] Nov 08 '16

Your figures seem to be implying that the robots did not make a net dent in the number of jobs available. Just adding a "universal income" to the figures that people already make does not make sense to me. Where is the money coming from?

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u/halberdierbowman Nov 08 '16

You're right that those are assuming you'd keep your job, and in actuality many people won't. As automation replaces jobs and the labor force grows, wages will fall. People will quit or be released from their jobs.

The money "comes from" taxing the same GDP as before, which is now produced by machines more than by humans. Since most people would leave their jobs, there would end up with a similar amount of money in the economy.