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CrispinMK t1_j7x4i1f wrote

I'm curious about the demographics of this sub. Based on the subject, the tone, and the fact that it's Reddit, it's probably mostly young men in the U.S. Occupationally, probably a mix of tech sector and students. As far as I can tell, there are not a lot of people with a strong grasp of history, economics or politics (most obvious from the highly contestable assumption that UBI is somehow inevitable).

Not trying to slag anyone. I just agree with OP's general point that social, economic, and political factors play just as big a role as the underlying technology in determining real-world impacts.

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Give-me-gainz t1_j7xie5v wrote

Could you explain why UBI or something like it is not inevitable? If more and more jobs are automated, and they are not replaced by equal numbers of new jobs, how else are we keeping people alive, fed and sheltered?

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CrispinMK t1_j7xwg32 wrote

Because capitalism? We already don't keep everyone alive, fed and sheltered. Poverty and inequality are rampant both globally and within countries. It seems far more likely that extremely powerful technologies controlled by the biggest profit-seeking corporations will exacerbate these problems rather than solve them.

There is a strong case to be made for UBI or a more expanded social safety net more generally, but that also requires new revenues. How confident are you that governments will be willing to tax and/or expropriate the economic benefits of AI in order to redistribute it? I'm not saying it won't happen, but that is absolutely not the political-economic trajectory of the past 50 years in most Western countries.

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Timely_Secret9569 t1_j83x8tc wrote

The only people we don't keep fed and sheltered are mentally ill lunatics who refuses help. And the reason we don't help them is because the only way to help them is by forcing them into asylums.

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