Elon Musk says robots will push us to a universal basic income—here’s how it would work
Catherine Clifford, CNBC, 18 Nov 2017
Burger flippers, truck drivers, and cashiers are going to be out of work in the coming decades, thanks to the accelerating pace of robotics and automation technology, some experts warn.
And as large swaths of the population lose their jobs, the only viable solution might be for the government to institute a universal basic income, which would mean paying every resident a fixed amount of money to cover their needs.
There’s a lot that’s still unclear about universal basic income, but here is what’s known so far.
Why universal basic income may be necessary
A 2013 study by Oxford University’s Carl Frey and Michael Osborne estimates that 47 percent of U.S. jobs will potentially be replaced by robots and automated technology in the next 10 to 20 years. Those individuals working in transportation, logistics, office management and production are likely to be the first to lose their jobs to robots, according to the report.
In less developed countries, the potential for job loss is more severe. A
2016 analysis from the World Bankestimated that roughly two-thirds of all jobs in developing nations around the globe are susceptible to replacement by automation.
As the global workforce modernizes and low-skilled workers lose their jobs, momentum builds around the idea of a universal basic income, or a fixed, regular payment that all residents, no matter their employment status or wealth, would receive from the government.
“There is a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income, or something like that, due to automation.” -Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of SolarCity, Tesla, and SpaceX
Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of
SolarCity,
Tesla, and SpaceX, recently declared that a universal basic income was a reasonable next step for the U.S. “There is a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income, or something like that, due to automation,”
Musk told CNBC. “Yeah, I am not sure what else one would do. I think that is what would happen.”
The entrepreneur and futurist is not alone in his sentiments. While no country has fully implemented a universal basic income yet,
individuals are experimenting with a version of the idea, as are several Scandinavian nations.
Where universal basic income stands worldwide
