this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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Perhaps China has the right idea. AI cannot replace human jobs. Or perhaps government could make Basic income a perpetual reality?
UBI in America? They won’t even budge on universal health care.
What will they do when 40% of the population can no longer afford to feed themselves and are rioting on a scale never seen in American history?
There’s a short story called Manna about this very concept.
Tldr: America goes with the cheapest possible option that isn’t outright murder, have the robots build a big concentration camp for the poors (ie everyone who didn’t have enough to buy their own robots) and keep them out of sight. Technically it’s a sort of universal social care, just not the kind you’d want.
That's what they are building the military robots for.
If 40% of the population aren't useful any more, and they have the means to stop it, all they need is an excuse to do it.
Build more camps
Tell them trans kids are shitting in litter boxes
They'll tell them to eat cake
Imagine UBI and allowing robots and AI for the mundane tasks that are dangerous or boring. The jobs no one wants to work.
Pipe dream. The ownership class will never stop exploiting labor willingly.
The only thing replacing human jobs with machines does is devalue human labor and make us more desperate. At some point, enough people will have nothing left to lose.
I literally do not understand the people that can look at our reality, our history, and the extreme greed that is pervasive in our society and still think "automation will allow for UBI!" It's literally redistribution of wealth from the same greedy people that fight against any kind of taxes
Automation simply means more profit for the ownership class. If we can't find work, we just die. They have absolutely no issues with that fact. :/
It’s an accelerator. At some point even the wealthiest must be affected. If humanoid robots become e a practical means of automation, suddenly there will be a lot of desperate people. At some point UBI might be the cheap solution for the wealthy
That doesn't make UBI a bad idea. It makes allowing the ownership class to continue to exist a bad idea.
100%
I don't think UBI is a bad idea. I think as you said, allowing the ownership class to exist as it currently does is the bad idea for sure.
They love slaves. They want to bring back slavery and serfdom. Simple as that.
Why have human slaves or serfs if robots do everything a human does with fewer mistakes, and no need for sleep or recreation?
Because you can't torture a robot, you can't make a robot cry, you can't crush a robot's spirit, you can't break a robot's will, you can't rape a robot.
Robots are expensive, require frequent maintenance by specialists, and there aren’t even any robots close to humans in durability and length of years active. They also can’t problem solve anything like humans can.
Meatbags are expensive and require frequent maintenance by specialists as well... theres a reason why sick leave and vacations are a thing.
And i've been surprised by Claude. It's not there yet, but its getting better at problem solving. I'm pretty anti-AI, but I can see it getting better and applied to things robots do on the daily while people still do the development and solutioneering and arts and such.
Go and read the article.
The most advanced robotics company in the world cannot make more than 4 robots a month.
You’re surprised by Claude? Why? It’s just theft of people’s work to enrich shithead tech bros.
my question is, right now when we have value we have to fight tooth and nail for every spec of capital we get... Once they don't need us, why would they give us anything? Its a lie to keep us quiet while we lock the doors and turn off the lights.
Thousands of people sitting around with nothing to do is dangerous.
Evening the playing field? Yeah, that's what dictators want.