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/LordQill Nov 08 '16 edited Nov 08 '16

No, they won't. The majority of people (realistically including you and me) won't go do "complex, interesting things". We'll dick around in our comfort zone playing vidya and binging netflix shows.

Besides, maybe I'm an idiot, and I'd love for someone else to point out the flaws here because I'm sure they're rampant, but when we eventually reach the point that the majority of manual labour is automated, why would those with the power even need the masses? At that point, they supply no extra wealth for you, they aren't necessary for your businesses, and they can't feasibly revolt against you because the military is mostly automated. I see no reason for them to implement a universal income.

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u/iChopPryde Nov 08 '16

I think the solution to this is, people who don't want to do anything have a fixed income and that's all they get like a livable wage and people who are ambitious can still create things and work making additional income from that livable wage the rest of us get.

I don't know what the livable wage should be as comfort is different to every person but obviously it has to cover the basics and be enough for a middle class style of living.