Comment on The World Will Enter a 15-Year AI Dystopia in 2027, Former Google Exec Says
badgermurphy@lemmy.world 3 days agoI can’t shake the feeling that all this talk of UBI and other social safety nets that are meant to support the majority of the populace after some notional post-work future society ignore a really big elephant in the room:
If most people are solely reliant on the good grace of a single entity, the government, for their whole means of survival, their entire existence is at the pleasure of that government. The populace becomes completely beholden to them, not the other way around.
The whole idea feels suspiciously like a trap set by bad actors with a long-term plan to steal the government from the governed.
HakunaHafada@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
I could see your argument if UBI was a recent concept (made by bad actors aimed at fixing today’s problem in order to steal the government from the governed tomorrow), but the concept has been around for a while: wiki article.
badgermurphy@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Its not so much of an argument as a concern. It puts an extreme amount of the country’s economic activity directly in the hands of the government. We see globally that governments can quickly change their motivations.
The same rope that can be used to help people put of a hole can be used to tie them up.
HakunaHafada@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
Definitely a fair and valid concern, then; I suppose that will always be an inherent risk.