Where are the robotic bricklayers?

Re:Where are the robotic bricklayers? by coding123 on Tuesday August 03, 2021 @11:43PM (#28056990)

I don't understand UBI personally. In general it will have the net effect of dropping even more people out of the labor pool. Even with increasing population over the last 50 years the number of people participating is going down. Not as a percentage, but a number.

With that, things like getting a plumber will skyrocket in price.

I mean why should I fix your toilet if I can be at home playing video games right now? I'm going to have a roof over my head and food in my mouth either way.

Current UBI experiments don't have the experience of going 100% of the population, so there's no way to know what will happen.

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Re:Where are the robotic bricklayers? by correcthorse123 on Wednesday August 04, 2021 @03:17AM (#28058202)

I dont know the answer, but I think people will pursue sections of the labour market which cannot (yet?) be automated. Why play video games that you're frankly sick of after a few months, if you could help someone out for both a social and comparatively large financial reward?

It would also depend on the specifics of how UBI would be implemented. Where I live I could stop working and live off welfare, providing a minimal standard of living. Yet almost nobody chooses this way of life as people strive for higher living standards, and for many work plays a part in giving meaning to life.

If more and more jobs get automated this might become a problem though, assuming no new non-automatable jobs are created.

[ Parent | on HN ]