Extremely Leisurely Society and Basic Income

　An extremely leisurely society brought about by AI. We need to find a way of life that doesn’t revolve around work. There will be a lot that we could do. Eating and drinking. Romance. Art. Study. Service.

  However, AI and robots can’t possibly take all of the jobs.  So let’s assume that as it has been predicted, only half of jobs will be lost. If that’s the case, a major theme will be whether or not an economic system will still be able to function in an extremely leisurely society.

  If they take half of the work then presumably that means they will take on responsibility for half of the production. If we lose half of our work, and the production output and GDP do not changes will the world continue to go round? Thus we’re faced more with an issue of distribution, than production.

  One answer to this question, is basic income (minimum standard of living,  guaranteed minimum income). This is a system where regardless of whether you work or not, everyone will be paid the minimum amount necessary to make a living. This is considered by many to be a bold political plan that will result in an ageing population and increase the cost of social welfare. But the rise of AI and robots will also have an effect on this point as well.

  In June 2016, Switzerland carried out a national referendum to weigh the pros and cons of such a system. The monthly stipend for an adult is 2500 swiss francs (approximately 275,000 yen). It was proposed that pensions and unemployment benefits would be abolished in favor of basic income. Around 80% voted against the proposal. The arguments for it were not well developed and the government opposed it.

 Meanwhile, in January of this year Finland selected 2,000 people in a raffle to participate in an experiment where each person was given 560 euros a month (about 70,000 yen). Similar experiments are also being planned in Utrecht, Netherlands, Ontario, Canada, Livorno, Italy, and Glasgow, Scotland.

　Such a system is possible. We just need to conduct research into whether this is something that can only be achieved by drastically changing the entire social security system. First, we need to devise a numerical formula for how much basic income is needed to abolish social security.

  In addition, we need to asses the effect that a basic income will have on people's desire to work and the effect it will have on the economy. If basic income becomes a reality it might be the case that people who like working will still work.

  In this regard, Professor Shigeki Morinobu of Chuo University has presented a study based on the data.

"The Reality of the Argument That We Can Use Basic Income to Help People Deprived of Work by Artificial Intelligence"

http://diamond.jp/articles/-/98513

  In order to pay 100,000 yen per person every month, taxation would need to be at about  60 trillion yen. In-depth political measures that use data to generate a source of revenue are to be expected. I will continue to think about discussions like these relating to the compatibility of AI technology and socio-economics. It is time for scholars of the sciences and humanities to make their appearance.

  Murray Shanahan in his book Singularity, says that it requires a large societal and political determination.

Whether the future of AI is pessimistic or optimistic, I agree with Shanahan.

And I think it’s about time that we start having these kinds of discussions and deliberations.

  Singularity looks at the possibility of a digital personal assistant, and pursues discussions on giving rights and personality to AI. This reminds me of when Mr. Ken Akamatsu brought up the issue of personality in AI with the Intellectual Property Department of the Japanese Government.

  However, a related issued concerning the personality of AI, is how should we view the possibility of AI being copied, divided, and combined? How do we account for the fact that citizenship is closely tied to the state? This is what the author wants to point out. Designing a system is difficult.

  AI is still at the theoretical engineering stage, but looking forward to its implementation, it is important that we seek out and mobilize experts in subjects like society, economics, politics, philosophy, and religion. This has gone from a problem for researchers, to a problem everyone, a problem for all of us.  

　

  A society with basic income and no work. We need to debate the wisdom of disciplines such as economics and political science internationally and think about a realistic plan.