Hydra

A small sketch of a vital problem, and a brief gesture at a possible solution

UBI forever?

In what follows, I’ll be talking about permanently sustaining a democratic government which is responsive to its peoples needs, even though they cannot sell their labor and do not own the means of production. but first we must note, even being in this situation- sustaining this state of affairs- is fortunate.

Sustaining, for example, “UBI” is a good problem to have, because it presupposes that you’ve won UBI to begin with. People get very lackadaisical about this! Many think that AI taking jobs wouldn’t be that bad because we’ll all just get UBI. I cannot emphasize to you enough that:

1. There is no law of nature that says UBI necessarily follows a drop, even a massive drop, in the demand for labour.
2. Even if there is a UBI, and even if on aggregate, society becomes fantastically richer, there is no guarantee that UBI will be anything but meagre. Consumption and income inequality might increase greatly, perhaps to astronomical levels.
3. You should try to get your guarantees upfront. Waiting to seek UBI and similar guarantees until after we no longer have any labor bargaining power would be a mistake.