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> Maybe you tax AI and redistribute the proceeds?

Yes, yes, yes!

The luddites were not antimachine. All they wanted was a piece of the progress for themselves. Imagine if, instead of throwing obsolete workers out on their asses we paid them a portion of the profits of their layoff.

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How long would you keep paying them? Machines have never obsoleted workers. If we look at how many jobs have been replaced by machines and computers, you’d expect to see a hundred trillion unemployed people. But the reality is they haven’t put people out of work, only changed what we work on and how much stuff we have to consume.

It puts people out of work immediately and people need food and housing immediately. We can progress and take care of people who get hurt along the way. It is possible.

That’s what the welfare system is for. Trying to account for jobs displaced by automation is absurd and mostly impossible.

> Machines have never obsoleted workers

At one time, switchboard operator was the most common job for young women. Then, the automated switchboard was invented.

That would be UBI and I’m all for it but then 70% of people wouldn’t work. If you argue otherwise you know you’re wrong. What would be amazing is if we find a way to make society still function that way.

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