Universal Basic Income: A Policy Whose Times Is Coming

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence has arrived and its wide-spread adoption acts as harbinger to a global paradigm shift. This shift affects much more than just finance, commerce, or labor and will warrant a re-examination of every aspect of American life. What today seems preposterous might tomorrow be praised; what we once thought of as impenetrable conventional wisdom, may be viewed as dogmatic and keep us with one foot in the old world as we struggle with new-world problems. Universal Basic Income, as discussed in this paper, may be the imperfect solution to address the perils of ‘progress’. Through hundreds of years such an idea has existed in the U.S., but given its fierce opposition, only now could it be seriously considered on a grand scale. Following decades of outsourcing and automation as we approached and continued through the twenty-first century, U.S. labor has withstood several proverbial body blows. Widespread adoption of A.I. and potential A.G.I. (Artificial General Intelligence) may deliver the final knockout punch. This is an eventuality we are not presently prepared for. Before we reach the logical conclusion to the demand for human capital; or at least on a society-sustaining scale, we must reexamine alternatives to our present way of life. This includes everything from what we expect from our government to how we as individuals view the very concept of work. What principles of longstanding economic theory may need to be ditched in favor of addressing an existential threat; and at what costs can the benefits of the few outweigh the welfare of the many.