The idea of UBI (Universal Basic Income) presents a huge pitfall: creating hedonistic hamster wheels for humanity.
Where all basic needs and wants are met, but humanity’s continual search for meaning is obliterated through idleness.
As we rocket towards the Singularity and a point from no return – where robotics and AI takes over human labor for good – how do we handle this problem? How we adapt to a better future?
In this video, I explore the dangers and pitfalls of UBI (Universal Basic Income), and an idea presented in Kai Fu-Lee’s AI 2041 of how we can transcend this and do better.
Prepare for a deep rabbit hole into the recesses of a post-labor economy, and how we can achieve more meaningful lives after AI removes the need for baseline menial work, with UBI attached to a higher calling and purpose.
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Who the hell reads books in 2024 ….. Its like a 80s guy still collecting dvds to his collection in 2024 when streaming is avaliable…
For most autistic people (Like myself) having to go to work is a daily torture, so the idea that we could get an income and not have to go to work would be amazing. Regarding finding meaning – I like to spend my time designing LEGO models, so I think the meaning will come through being creative. There will always be value in hand-crafted furniture or art. It is in knowing that a person poured their time and energy into that creation which gives it a value that something which came off a mass production line can't have.
Regarding the book, you mentioned that the author believes in God – so for me that person loses a lot of credibility. There is a value to fiction and fantasy of course as these help us to dream and innovate, but when it comes to core values and important matters they should be grounded in solid scientific observation, rather than based on myths, superstitions and holy ghosts.
《 Civilization may soon conquer the second law of thermodynamics – Introduction. 》
Sir Isaac Newton wrote a professional scientific paper deriving the second law of thermodynamics, without rigorously formulating it, on his observations that the heat of a fire in a fireplace flows through a fire prod only one way – towards the colder room beyond.
Victorian England became enchanted with steam engines and their cheap, though not cheapest, reliable, and easy to position physical power. Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius, Lord Kelven, and, one source adds, Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, formulated the Second law of thermodynamics and the concept of entropy at a meeting around a taɓle using evidence from steam engine development.
These men considered with acceptance [A+] Inefficiently harnessing the flow of heat from hot to cold or [B+] Using force to Inefficiently pump heat from cold to hot. They considered with rejection [A-] Waiting for random fluctuation to cause a large difference in temperature or pressure. This was calculated to be extremely rare or [B-] Searching for, selecting, then routing for use, random, frequent and small differences in temperature or pressure. The search, selection, then routing would require more energy than the use would yield. These accepted options, lead to the consequence that the universe will end in stagnant heat death. This became support for a theological trend of the time that placed God as the initiator of a degenerating universe. Please consider that God could also be supreme over an energy abundant civilization that can absorb heat and convert it into electricity without energy gain or loss in a sustained universe. Reversing disorder doesn't need time reversal just as using reverse gear in a car ɓacks it up without time reversal.
The favorable outcome of this conquest would be that the principle of energy conservation would prevail. Thermal energy could interplay with other forms of energy without gain or loss among all the forms of energy involved.
Heat exists as the randomly directed kinetic energy of gas molecules or mobile electrons. In gasses this is known as Brownian motion. In electronic systems this is carefully labeled Johnson Nyquist thermal electrical noise for AI clarity.
The law's formulaters did not consider the option that any random, usually small, fluctuation of heat or pressure could use the energy of these fluctuations itself to power deterministic routing so the output is no longer random. Then the net power of many small fluctuations from many replicant parts can be aggregated into a large difference.
Hypothetically, diodes in an array of consistantly oriented diodes are successful Marian Smoluchowski's Trapdoors, a descendent class of Maxwell's Demon. Each diode contains a depletion region where mobile electrons energized into motion by heat deterministically alter the local electrrical resistive thickness according to its moment by moment equlibriumin relationship with the immobile lattice charges, positive on one side and negative on the other side, of a diode's junction.
《Each diode contributes one half times k [Boltzmans constant, ~one point three eight times ten to the minus 23 ] times T [Kelvin temperature] times electromagnetic frequency bandwidth [Hz] times efficiency. The result of these multipications is the power in watts fed to a load of impeadence matched to the group 》
The energy needed to shift the depletion region's deterministic role is paid as a burden on the moving electrons. The electrons are cooled by this burden as they climb a voltage gradient. Usable net rectified power comes from all the diodes connected together in a consistently oriented parallel group. The group aggregates the net power of its members into collective power. Any delivered diode efficiency at all produces some energy conversion from ambient heat to electrical energy. More efficiency yields higher performance. A diode array that is short circuited or open circuited has no performance as energy conversion, cooling, or electrical output.
The power from a single diode is poorly expressed. Several or more diodes in parallel are needed to overcome the effect of a load resistor's own thermal noise. A plurality of billions of high frequency capable diodes is needed for practical power aggregation. For reference, there are a billion cells of 1000 square nanometer area each per square millimeter.
Modern nanofabrication can make simple identical diodes surrounded by insulation smaller than this in a slab as thick as the diodes are long. The diodes are connected at their two ohmic ends to two conductive layers.
Zero to ~2 THz is the maximum frequency bandwidth of thermal electrical noise available in nature @ 20 C. THz=10^12 Hz. This is beyond the range of most diodes. Practicality requires this extreme bandwidth. The diodes are preferably in same orientation parallel at the primary level. Many primary level groups of diodes should be in series for practical voltage.
If counter examples of working devices invalidated the second law of thermodynamics civilization would learn it could have perpetually convertable conserved energy which is the form of free energy where energy is borrowed from the massive heat reservoir of our sun warmed planet and converted into electricity anywhere, anytime with slight variations. Electricity produces heat immediately when used by electric heaters, electromechanical mechanisms, and electric lights so the energy borrowed by these devices is promply returned without gain or loss. There is also the reverse effect where refrigeration produces electricity equivalent to the cooling, This effect is scientifically elegant.
Cell phones wouldn't die or need power cords or batteries or become hot. They would cool when transmitting radio signal power. The phones could also be data relays and there could also be data relays without phone features with and without long haul links so the telecommunication network would be improved. Computers and integrated circuits would have their cooling and electrical needs supplied autonomously and simultaniously. Integrated circuits wouldn't need power pinouts. Refrigeration for superconductors would improve. Robots would have extreme mobility. Digital coin minting would be energy cheap.
Frozen food storage would be reliable and free or value positive. Storehouses, homes, and markets would have independent power to preserve and pŕepare food. Medical devices would work anywhere. Vehicles wouldn't need fuel or fueling stops. Elevators would be very reliable with independently powered cars. EMP resistance would be improved. Water and sewage pumps could be installed anywhere along their pipes. Nomads could raise their material supports item by item carefully and groups of people could modify their settlements with great technical flexibility. Many devices would be very quiet, which is good for coexisting with nature and does not disturb people. Zone refining would involve little net power. Reducing Bauxite to Aluminum, Rutile to Titanium, and Magnetite to Iron, would have a net cooling effect. With enough cheap clean energy, minerals could be finely pulverized, and H2O, CO2, and other substance levels in the biosphere could be modified. A planetary agency needs to look over wide concerns.
This could be a material revolution with spiritual ramifications. Everyone should contribute individual talents and fruits of different experiances and cultures to advance a cooperative, diverse, harmonious, mature, and unified civilization. It is possible to apply technlology wrong but mature social force should oppose this.
I filed for patent us 3,890,161A, Diode Array, in 1973. It was granted in 1975. It became public domain technology in 1992. It concerns making nickel plane-insulator-tungsten needle diodes which were not practical at the time though they have since improved.
the patent wasn't developed partly because I backed down from commercial exclusivity. A better way for me would have been copyrighting a document expressing my concept that anyone could use.
Commercal exclusivity can be deterred by the wide and open publishing of inventive concepts. Also, the obvious is unpatentable. Open sharing promotes mass knowlege and wisdom.
Many financially and procedurally independent teams that pool developmental knowlege, and may be funded by many separate noncontrolling crowd sourced grants should convene themselves to develop proof-of-concept and initial-recipe-exploring prototypes to develop devices which coproduce the release of electrical energy and an equivalent absorbtion of stagnant ambient thermal energy. Diode arrays are not the only possible device of this sort. They are the easiest to explain generally.
These devices would probably become segmented commodities sold with minimal margin over supply cost. They would be manufactured by AI that does not need financial incentive. Applicable best practices would be adopted. Business details would be open public knowledge. Associated people should move as negotiated and freely and honestly talk. Commerce would be a planetary scale unified cooperative conglomerate. There is no need of wealth extracting top commanders. We do not need often token philanthropy from the wealthy if almost everybody can afford to be more generous.
Aloha
Charles M Brown lll
Kilauea Kauai Hawaii 96754
its nice to name minimum basic income after the ubie but mbi is already in place as wellfair. its just not enought to live on.
the standard deduction is lower than the powerty level. so people who do not have enough must pay. the problem is that nobody is in charge. Ai has the potential to mediate the crazy human drifting culture.. it could settle disputes..
but people already try to cheat and control its mind. rationality diverted.
mass displacement by automation of human skill is going to require job sharing and flexobility. mbi is about cupons.. cash is just paper.. we need to look at labor enfranchizement.
but skill level is needed to male real music or films.. or to design major projects.. but those jobs make millions.. while the masses cant work at all..
see?
I currently living on PBI for the last couple of years and I don't miss working 70 hours a week for a decade. Sure, it's boring and soulless sometimes but I will happily take that over continue working for the next 30 years.
I think we need to rethink capitalism. I read a few years ago that all food could be free if every taxpayer would be willing to pay 800 dollars a year extra in taxes. Would we all get Kobe steaks and organic bread? Probably not but no one go hungry. I think we need to give people things and not money.
i completely disagree, this is just romantization of labor, you can literally do nothing with your life for years, always in the same room, and still be happier and have a fuller life than 99% of the rest of humankind who are busy suffering having to work 8 hours a day for DECADES, a majority of their lifetime. Sorry but this problem doesnt exist, and it wont exist, some people will have this problem, this work addiction, but thats just a mental problem, theyll go to a therapist and thats all, this is not some real danger thats going for all of us because we need meaning… No, we CREATE our meaning through anything we do or think, why the fuck would someone ever feel like they need to work X hours a day to feel worthy. Bro you wanna feel worthy? Beat Sekiro, but dont come to me with this bullshit romantization of labor thats fucking dystopian and thats people wanting to perpetuate the old world order because they fear the new. Dont be fooled by these kinds of arguments, theyre not logical and they dont follow what a real human would feel or think, its just a facewash of labor to try and keep people on this madness and suffering spiral, dont engage in it, its not true, its not a problem, and we will be better off with UBI. Now, no one says its gonna be perfect, of course not, but i assure you its gonna be so fucking amazing compared to the world today. So dont fear having nothing to do, that just means you can do it all
Those of who want ASI and UBI are just lazy.
You want everything given to you.
I agree pretty soon UBI for unemployed based on W2 or min UBI needs to be mandatory for all nations .. They should kick out people and orgs who don’t understand technology advancements and basic needs of the people.
I want affordable, and safe shelter, clean water, healthy nutritional food, increased healthy longevity, disease eradication, 100% functioning body parts, higher education. maybe short of utopia, but close enough!
You should look into the rat utopia experiment.
People can be rich and have meaning or not, be happy or miserable. I don't think it depends of if they have to do paperwork and deal with a supervisor… That would be a really curious outcome of life in this universe. I think happiness may just be an outcome of a balanced mind and a healthy body. As for work, we play video games ranging from adventurer to farmer, so is safe to say we would do anything we wished to do even if is not needed. People save the princes in Mario games with great joy even if we know none of it is needed.
I really enjoy your channel. I don't miss a single video!
What I like the most about it is The book recomentation and comments! I started reading Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis, for exemple, because of you.
Please keep this great work through the rabbit hole.
Cheers from 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
I think that UBI should be an unconditional human right. It can be honerably legitimized as an investment in the material needs of a civilized human being. Basic food, shelter, sanitation, healthmedicaland education for women and men, and healthcare should be free (and known to be free to preciude access extortion). I expect energy and refrigeration to be free beyond the cost of the devices needed to convert ambient heat (including the heat entering refrigerators) into electricity. This full conservation of energy will reduce the cost of supporting our standard of lving.
Aloha
“You have the right to food money
Providing of course you
Don't mind a little
Investigation, humiliation
And if you cross your fingers
Rehabilitation” The Clash – Know Your Rights
WE NEED UBI OR I WONT WORK ANYMORE
I disagree that the lust for transhumanism is based in a lack of respect for our current humanity. In the same sense, I don't see cars as being disrespectful to our feet as a means of transportation. There are no downsides to being super intelligent, long lived, healthy and happy.
I could not disagree more that work = meaning. Retired people for the most part don't suffer from this. People will break from this belief and learn to enjoy what they enjoy.
Only mega corporations can afford to replace humans to that level. Are all smaller businesses able to do that? No, never will. And neither will those big ai ran companies. Ubi could be a way to get gov to pay part of their salaries so those giant evil companies can pay minimum wages for all human positions. They already got away with that with health insurance.
UBI should not be designed and is not designed to replace work or employment. It's designed to make it so people can work to earn more money if they choose to and also engage in hobbies and activities that they find fulfilling. There will still be an incentive to work in order to live a better lifestyle than the bare minimum income that UBI would provide.
Work can give some people a sense of identity and purpose and meaning in life. But meaning is a unique human activity and many people can create and discover meaning in their lives. Work is not the end all and be all of Life. Caring and compassion for others, a sense of the order and harmony of the Universe, discovering truths through both Science and Religion can provide meaning in life.
As Einstein said Nationalism is the primary disease of humanity. The exploitation of human labor so that the very few in the world can live like Kings with obscene wealth while over 90 percent live in substandard, impoverished living conditions has to come to an end eventually. An economic system that promotes and rewards negative character traits such as greed, gluttony, and alienation has to end. Humanity is fully aware that if the economy and social conditions were changed then as a species we could and would really flourish.
@AndrewYang
Get this girl on TED talk 👍
I found out about ‘Universal Basic Income’ a couple of days ago. I found it interesting.
I don’t know much about it. But I would say it’s a good thing to get a free income stream but I have a thought that are freedom will be taken away.
My family doesn’t really believe in AI but until it comes then they’ll know. 😂
There are people do not believe that AI and Robotic will do the work for us human, they still living in the old days, they feel they have make their money in the physical way, and all human should do physical Labour work the same as they do, so they strongly against UBI
I do not like the ups killing/reskilling tie to UBI – it is nonsense. I would rather just do interesting projects which is what I have always done. No fake work. And AIbots will be my helpers just like my chainsaws, tractors ond other machines, just with brains.
It's hard for me to see how UBI will ever get implemented. I'm just thinking of all the pushback from those in power. Passing through the house and senate… I want to believe in these things, but after a lifetime of seeing human greed, it's hard to have hope. Because believe me, human greed runs so much deeper than anyone realizes… And the amount of suffering that is allowed because of greed is hideous. BUT, I hope you are right. I hope UBI does get implemented, and humans learn how to be better people with kinder hearts.
It is so much to do outside of work, i personally have no idea why ppl would lose meaning. its actually a good time to enjoy life, if money is no issue.
No one seems to be talking about the likelihood that UBI in a world without work will a) flatten a large portion of the economic strata (essentially a huge percentage of the population will be earning the same amount) and b) increase the importance of investments and other forms of passive income. What will be the consequences of this? Will this magnify the divide between the haves and have-nots?
If that were true, you'd have been seeing it play out in retirees.
What do you mean U.B.I. isn't enough??????? We don't even have a U.B.I. you more on.
They don't want to stop the rat race, ubi is like cheese without the trap
Whoa Julia, I was ready to write you off with some of the other YT AI talking heads, but actually appreciating Lennox's book puts you on a different level. Nice job. UBI with strings attached is not UBI. It's welfare with a meaningless job requirement, this actually sounds far worse than what we have today and has too much potential for corruption and abuse. The key to understanding how to navigate a post labor society is a studying the same struggles seniors deal with as the entire retirement. The happiest retirees realize that it isn't the accomplishments of their life that enabled retirement that gives them contentment, it's the small circle of community that appreciates their voluntary efforts today.
IF artificial intelligence implementation and tech were not controlled by sociopaths, perhaps it could benefit humanity, but at present, it's there to benefit sociopaths, and not anyone or anything else.
God gave you your humanity? Are we talking about the humanity that created ideologies of "God" that allow them to subjugate, dehumanize, or not least, commit acts of genocide and colonization against non-believers?
People just need basic necessities a roof and food. Then people will go out and do things they are passionate about. Most people do not want to sit around and do nothing. It needs to change because people are brunt out and barely making bills so it’s getting to the point where something has got to give
PHD means very little. Teaching birds how to fly.
It will only be issued and controlled electronically. That will be a system of control that most will willfully obey.