Meet Flippy, the burger-flipping robot

[DukeTrout]

@lolipop_jones

a dormitory and a cafeteria

and fasionable clothes…

[Daedalus]

@gracchus

That right there is where conservatives and Libertarians run into problems with the concept. Given the changing economy, a lot of them are coming to terms with the concept of a basic income, but only for the “deserving.” For most American conservatives and many Libertarians, “deserving” usually means white, often means male, and sometimes means Christian. Right-wing populist regimes are built on offering goodies like a UBI to “deserving” supporters, and denying them to everyone else.

I don’t think it’s explicit, or even necessarily conscious, but yeah, I think this is an effect. “I mean, obviously my aunt Gertrude is a worthy of having her heathcare paid for, but that Mexican family that just moved in already has too many children and maybe they don’t need any more so they certainly could stand to not have new childbirths covered by my tax dollars…”

I think the Overton Window needs to include the idea that all human beings regardless of their supposed moral failings are still worthy of things like food and healthcare, and I think it’s like maybe a little bit there…but not quite…because it’s too easy to dehumanize people, even when they’re people that just live a 10 minute drive down the street.

[gracchus]

@Daedalus

I don’t think it’s explicit, or even necessarily conscious, but yeah, I think this is an effect.[/quote]

I’m sorry to say that it’s been getting more explicit and conscious by the day as the alt-right and white nationalists become more emboldened.

[quote=“Daedalus, post:82, topic:96934, full:true”]I think the Overton Window needs to include the idea that all human beings regardless of their supposed moral failings are still worthy of things like food and healthcare

It’s going to have to shift left in that regard, if the neoliberal American establishment wants to continue its programme of automating and offshoring away that pesky “labour” line item (their motivation won’t be the altruism you describe). You can’t have near-Depression levels of a permanently unemployed “unneccessariat” and also have peaceful low-crime streets and what appears to be a consumer economy without a UBI to cover the lower tiers of Maslow’s pyramid plus a little extra for non-essentials.

[Michael_R_Smith]

Yes but you are probably a fairly creative person. For average humans, a life on UBI would more closely resemble the matrix. Fed through a tube and immersed in VR.

[anon35121463]

Better than a life in software engineering. I’d slash my fucking wrists on Day 1 if I had to do that for a crust. Still, takes all sorts, eh.

[anon33466019]

@Daedalus

Mike Rowe has some interesting insights here, and while I don’t 100% agree with everything he says here, I think his take is a refreshing and necessary antidote, and all too relevant for the roboticized world.

Carp yeah. That video was excellent, and it reinforces something that not only I believe but has worked for me: don’t let passion lead you, bring passion with you.

[GilbertWham]

For average humans, life in a shitty job isn’t any better. I do shitty low-end jobs. In your scenario above, exactly how is spending most of your waking life in a call centre or a warehouse better than spending it in VR being a dragon or a space marine, say, with a side-gig doing a few hours a week at whatever so as to be able to afford to keep your gaming rig up to spec? Or having the chance to actually try some self-actualisation because you don’t have to slave for bills?

[bibliophile20]

@Michael_R_Smith

For average humans, a life on UBI would more closely resemble the matrix. Fed through a tube and immersed in VR.

And yet, I don’t see most middle class people going “Oh, I’ve earned enough money this week to pay for 2000 calories a day of Soylent and my bills! Time to slack off and not try to save up for that nice thing that I’ve been wanting!”

Really, this is just a more complicated way of saying “poor people are lazy.”

[Daedalus]

@Michael_R_Smith

Yes but you are probably a fairly creative person. For average humans, a life on UBI would more closely resemble the matrix. Fed through a tube and immersed in VR.

Every person is a creative person.

Some just don’t have the luxury to pursue that.

[sargemisfit]

… Humans just don’t function well with universal minimum wages.

On the contrary.

A Canadian City Once Eliminated Poverty And Nearly Everyone Forgot

[Daedalus]

@sargemisfit

On the contrary.

THIS REMINDS ME!

We already kind of have a mechanism for this in the US - the Earned Income Tax Credit. Just making that bigger/longer term might go a long way toward the early steps of a basic income.

[DukeTrout]

@Michael_R_Smith

Yes but you are probably a fairly creative person. For average humans, a life on UBI would more closely resemble the matrix. Fed through a tube and immersed in VR.

You need to get out more. “Average humans” have hopes and dreams that go way beyond drudging two jobs just to get by.