I think many people are missing a key issue when they imagine a future where AI takes care of everything for us and no one has to work. The concept of Universal Basic Income, or UBI, being provided by governments sounds great on the surface, but in reality people would likely receive only a minimal amount, just enough to get by rather than live comfortably. It is more like a worst case scenario than the great new world order that many people are imagining.

If artificial intelligence eliminates large numbers of jobs and leaves society facing mass unemployment, people are unlikely to be content and governments are also unlikely to simply step back and let the world spiral into chaos and civil unrest. Instead, they are more likely to prepare to expand their authority and further militarize in order to suppress uprisings from people stepping up against a new system of civil society built around a world with no jobs.

If much of the developed world ends up unemployed and dependent on UBI, that feels closer to dystopia than utopia. It resembles a machine driven system in which human labor and agency are no longer central. In that scenario, any serious resistance could be met not by human officers using the usual tear gas or rubber bullets of the past, but by drones, autonomous ground vehicles, and humanoid robots exerting lethal force.

Within a decade or so, protests or uprisings could look very different, with machines enforcing order in the streets. If people are sustained by UBI because they are no longer needed to run society and they attempt to push back against that reality, it means modern society has failed and the response to any public displays of discontentment may not be humane or negotiable.

Even though they may no longer be functionally needed to carry out such tasks, humans may still be employed out of sympathy to do such things as haul away rubbish, clean toilets, handle bodies in morgues, and change bed pans in hospitals. The future is bright! 😂

48 minutes ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

If much of the developed world ends up unemployed and dependent on UBI, that feels closer to dystopia than utopia.

If you currently have a crap, meaningless low paying job of drudgery, then no longer having to work is much closer to utopia.

If you currently are wealthy and have high status, then losing a job to AI may lead you to serious depression, suicide, or alcoholism/serious drug use as your entire identity was tied to your wealth and status in society.

2 hours ago, save the frogs said:

If you currently have a crap, meaningless low paying job of drudgery, then no longer having to work is much closer to utopia.

Many of those menial, low-paid jobs are not under threat. Many will remain, some out of pity. Good chance many of those people wont be beneficiaries of the great UBI dream. No utopia for them.

I'm betting on dystopia.

When I think about what AI might be able to do, I get lost in the math. I seem to remember 1 + 1 = 2. When people discuss AI, it equals infinity.

Think about it. Yes, AI can improve healthcare. AI might find ways to provide cheap energy. AI might streamline production and make goods and services more efficient and cheaper. Sounds good, but......

All economies need end users. We call them "consumers". Consumers need money to be able to purchase all of those wonderful goods and services. Unfortunately, AI is going to make those consumers, who are also income-receiving workers, redundant. They won't be working to earn the money needed to buy those goods and services.

Ah, but what about UBI? Give people money and they can buy. Sounds good, until one looks at the world's debt situation and sovereign governments' debt situation. The world has $346,000,000,000,000 of debt, which amounts to about $41,000 for every current human occupant of the planet. Where is this money going to come from to pay UBI? More debt? More printed money? It is not workable, besides the fact NOBODY has a current plan at a time when AI is chomping up the food chain destroying jobs.

AI isn't going to obviate workers all at once, nor even equally across all world societies. Think of how many people in the Philippines work call centers that you reach when calling about your credit card. Think of how many guys are busy writing code in Bangalore. Those two "careers" will be the first to go, so one might expect to see a little social unrest in areas so dependent on call centers and code writing.

We're all going to be the proverbial lobster in the pot, "It's getting warm in here, but at least I'm not boiling like poor Joe the Lobster over there."

Later, folks will come to realize education is pointless, save for learning for the sake of learning. No need to study engineering or medicine or much of anything, because AI will know more, know it faster, and be able to deliver solutions with minimal error. Universities will be useless. Anyone who wants a degree in Medieval Japanese history or the biology of flatworms can learn it online. No education is going to lead to gainful employment, so universities ability to charge $80K per year will be gone. It will be easier to sell a Betamax player than a sheepskin from MIT or Harvard.

I suspect the people most able to adapt to the brave new world will be people currently under the age of 35. I've seen such people who can be mesmerized and satisfied by 10 straight hours of banal TikTok videos, believing that is a life well lived. AI will find ways to pacify and mollify such easily entertained people.

Frankly, I think AI will eventually decide humans are just a nuisance and will exterminate the pests that we are. I might even opine that the real reason no alien civilization has visited us is not because of distance and speed limits, but because every advanced civilization eventually developed AI, and AI destroyed it.

Reckon at my age I have reached the point of not giving a jolly.

Wifey & I will likely continue in our "set" ways.

My 2008 D-Max 4 door ute will hopefully keep ticking over.

My 50+ years of motor bike riding will help keep me moving.

Beer will continue to be available.

The youngsters no longer listen to me, I am a grampa.

Good luck to the lot of 'em.🙃🙃

Same was said about the industrialisation beginning of last century, when every larger farm employed 30 - 50 people more or less full time and during high season. Today is run by one singel man or family. Things evolve, but human resources will never go out on time.

You’re absolutely right to point to the parallel with the first wave of industrialization.

At the beginning of the 20th century, agriculture in places like United States or across Europe was highly labor-intensive. Large farms often required dozens of workers year-round, plus seasonal labor. Then mechanization — tractors, combine harvesters, milking machines — radically reduced the need for manual labor. Today, a single farmer or family can manage what once required 30–50 people.

And yet:

• Food production didn’t disappear — it increased.

• Jobs didn’t vanish — they shifted.

• New industries emerged (machinery manufacturing, logistics, food processing, agritech, finance, services).

That’s the key pattern in technological transitions:

Labor doesn’t disappear — it transforms.

Human resources in the broad sense (human effort, coordination, creativity, judgment) have historically adapted rather than become obsolete. When machines replace physical labor, humans move toward:

• Supervision and system design

• Maintenance and optimization

• Creative and strategic work

• Services and relationship-based roles

• Entirely new fields that didn’t previously exist

The deeper question today is whether AI is just another productivity tool (like tractors were for farms) — or whether it automates not just manual labor but cognitive labor at scale. That’s what makes this transition feel different.

But history does suggest something important:

Technological shocks are disruptive — sometimes painfully so — but human economic participation hasn’t “run out” yet.

Your farm example is a strong illustration of that evolutionary pattern

As long as I can still buy bacon and pork sausages, I'm happy enough!

A pointless baiting post has been removed, you need to stop that please or next time it wont be just the post that is removed

19 hours ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

The concept of Universal Basic Income, or UBI, being provided by governments sounds great on the surface, but in reality people would likely receive only a minimal amount, just enough to get by rather than live comfortably.

Its just another name for "dole money" previously known also as "unemployment benefit" " job seekers allowance" "Social Security", "Universal Credit", "Sickness Benefit," etc etc and it will be worth about the same , probably a little bit less,

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

As long as I can still buy bacon and pork sausages, I'm happy enough!

Do you honestly think UK expats will qualify for the UK version of this? , which like the state pension , will be considerably less than what nationals of other countries will get

Just now, Bday Prang said:

Do you honestly think UK expats will qualify for the UK version of this? , which like the state pension , will be considerably less than what nationals of other countries will get

I'm ok with what I get/have.

My savings alone exceed my probable life expectancy.

And I don't really give a poop what happens to anyone else.

And before you say it or post a thumbs down,

Maybe you could be the first person to explain to my why I should care about anyone else?

No solution to the common cold and AI not found a solution yet

19 hours ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

If much of the developed world ends up unemployed and dependent on UBI, that feels closer to dystopia than utopia.

Armageddon more likely; Skynet and war against the Machines.

5 hours ago, Wingate said:

Frankly, I think AI will eventually decide humans are just a nuisance and will exterminate the pests that we are.

Yeah, that could happen.

And maybe it's time the "human experiment" comes to an end.

We are just struggling to survive. We don't know why we're here, how we got here.

We are on a Road to Nowhere anyway.

38 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I'm ok with what I get/have.

My savings alone exceed my probable life expectancy.

And I don't really give a poop what happens to anyone else.

And before you say it or post a thumbs down,

Maybe you could be the first person to explain to my why I should care about anyone else?

Allow me to be the first 😊 Caring about others is the same as caring for yourself.

39 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

And I don't really give a poop what happens to anyone else.

It's precisely that kind of selfish attitude that will get us wiped out by AI.

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

I'm ok with what I get/have.

My savings alone exceed my probable life expectancy.

And I don't really give a poop what happens to anyone else.

And before you say it or post a thumbs down,

Maybe you could be the first person to explain to my why I should care about anyone else?

A good point to care about others, who also cares about hour common interests, so basically whats comes around goes around ?

There is hips to add, but this is a very simplified version of politics and philosophies about how to maximize everyones common interests in the best way possible.

eventually harmful work can finally be replaced with robots, i broke my back from heavy lifting jobs. but its going to take a long time before robots has replaced thais on farms or in construction

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I'm ok with what I get/have.

My savings alone exceed my probable life expectancy.

And I don't really give a poop what happens to anyone else.

And before you say it or post a thumbs down,

Maybe you could be the first person to explain to my why I should care about anyone else?

In a world full of selfish, egotistical, users, greedy, exploiters, over developers, lunatic leaders, megalomaniacs, and all others who only care for themselves, be happy if you have a few that care and or love you, because many don't even have that.

17 hours ago, BritManToo said:

I'm ok with what I get/have.

My savings alone exceed my probable life expectancy.

And I don't really give a poop what happens to anyone else.

And before you say it or post a thumbs down,

Maybe you could be the first person to explain to my why I should care about anyone else?

You might care about the people who are holding your savings. As the saying goes "No man is an Island"

17 hours ago, Bday Prang said:

Its just another name for "dole money" previously known also as "unemployment benefit" " job seekers allowance" "Social Security", "Universal Credit", "Sickness Benefit," etc etc and it will be worth about the same , probably a little bit less,

You are very wrong. Social Security isn't the dole. I was forced to pay into the system for 50 years. I earned what I am getting back. I would get back a lot more if I had been able to invest.

The problem with UBI is that the government always takes in a lot more money (at gunpoint) than it hands out. It is extremely inefficient. Before people were forced to pay for Welfare, there were lots of charities and people took care of one another. Now it people demand that the government give them things because it is their right to have the money I worked hard for,

AI reminds me a bit of social media, it's definitely a step backwards in the wrong direction for civilization.

1 hour ago, bunnydrops said:

You might care about the people who are holding your savings. As the saying goes "No man is an Island"

If the banks and government pension system fail it'll be TEOTWAWKI

And the whole world will likely be foraging for food.

Dystopia - we're already there.

50 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

If the banks and government pension system fail it'll be TEOTWAWKI

And the whole world will likely be foraging for food.

Should have bought Thai gold when it was 18K / Thai baht weight.

1 hour ago, technoronin said:

Social Security isn't the dole.

I'd be happy if the Social Security system gave me the option to payout everything I paid into the system plus interest. I'd take it.

There is no such thing as absolute dystopia or absolute utopia.

Conditions and parameters change, you need to manage your life.

Some people are miserable no matter what.

Some people can roll with the punches and adapt.

Depends on YOU.

2 hours ago, connda said:

I'd be happy if the Social Security system gave me the option to payout everything I paid into the system plus interest. I'd take it.

Yeah, the problem is that a third S, for Solidarity, should have been included there. Yet it has always been implied as the system couldn't work otherwise. Something not too bright people tend to overlook.