Future proofing against mass unemployment from robotics

People are afraid of mass unemployment from robotics and automation.

Universal Basic Income has been proposed but this would require a fund of about $53 trillion to provide $10,000 per person per year for 300 million people for life. This would also be $3 trillion per year. Redistribution of existing financial aid programs and tax increases might enable it but is political unrealistic.

DARPA is a for researching advanced military technology to ensure that the $700 billion to $1.2 trillion that is spent on the defense of the United States leverages the leading edge of technology and so that the USA is not surprised by new military technology. DARPA has a budget of about $3.5 billion per year. DARPA is considered successful.

The US with federal and state programs spends about $1.2 trillion on aid programs for the poor. There should be a similar to DARPA scale program to develop groundbreaking means of providing the services that are needed for the poor and for all people in the USA.

This program could also be viewed as a financial PUT option against the value of most current workers.

There should be economic research to determine the best means for creating a technological financial option that gains in value if the value of the current workforce massively degrades.

Job stealing robots in the service of the masses

Robotics and automation that becomes productive enough to cause mass unemployment would also be able to provide the services (shelter, food, medical care, transportation etc…) that would be needed by the masses.

Patents and affordable critical technology for the People

Part of it could be a patent portfolio (like Intellectual Ventures ) but held in the public trust.

Besides acquiring patents, the rights for generic drug production or key copyrights might be obtained. This could ensure that there is not overcharging for key technology.

Large scale licenses for key artificial intelligence software could be obtained. Just as public libraries acquire the rights to provide books to the public, there could the acquisition of licenses for public utilization of software of IBM Watson or other software. The licenses might have to be used in public companies that provide services that have public utility.

However, to avoid bureaucracy and inefficiency there would have to be competitive contests (like the XPrize) for developing any systems.

Leveraging Collectivism

There is a concern that all people without access to robotic production will be losers in the new economy.

There should be an examination of how all regular people can acquire and access factories and robotic production in the most productive and efficient ways.

There should be an analysis of the Kibbutz and other community models Kibbutz models were used to build factories and high technology businesses.

Here 10-10000 people get together to acquire the means of production. There would need to be some kind of support to help them get the best new 3D printing types systems, laser cutters and robotics and automated production.

A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. In 2010, there were 270 kibbutzim in Israel. Their factories and farms account for 9% of Israel’s industrial output, worth US$8 billion, and 40% of its agricultural output, worth over $1.7 billion. Some Kibbutzim had also developed substantial high-tech and military industries. For example, in 2010, Kibbutz Sasa, containing some 200 members, generated $850 million in annual revenue from its military-plastics industry.

Habitat for Humanity has built 800,000 homes since 1976.

Crowdsourcing ideas, prizes and better plans

The plans and projects should also try to leverage crowdsourcing and xprize prize competitions to try get better results.