General Motors has laid off more than 1,000 workers at its Factory ZERO assembly plant in Detroit while simultaneously introducing 50 AI-powered collaborative robots to the production line.
At the union’s 39th Constitutional Convention in Detroit, UAW President Shawn Fain warned, “We are in a fight for humanity.”
Fain argued AI should improve jobs and productivity rather than leave workers behind.
#We. The. People.
The basis of our political power is not what we do, but the mere fact that we exist. Our power arises not by what we do, but simply by our being. The religious among us would say it is “God given”. This is the fundamental concept of “Democracy”.
Contrast with “Monarchy”, where political power is considered to flow from the King and the basis of that political power is “Divine Right”.
The duty that the nobility owed to their king is the same duty that the government owes to the people. Democracy is the idea that We The People are the royals, and not the peasantry.
The divine right of kings was a farce as well. The power of the nobility layed in the contracts of armed men, the people that armed them, and the peasentry that worked the land to feed the others. The invention of those fedual contracts being ordained by God was a helpful enforcement mechanism based on myth making to justify it.
Regularly still the divinity of kings was tested and found lacking compared to more men on more horses with more spears and more armor.
Myth is good, we are narrative driven beings, but don’t mistake the parable for the certainty of steel or the weight of gold. The constitution of the US is actually written as such too. It is not, by divine will we are free, but rights we are born with must be defended with greater force then by those that would violate those rights.
Maybe I should clarify I’m not saying the ideals of democracy and human rights are wrong. At all. I am saying that treating the existence of those ideals as enough to manifest them is naive and ultimately failing to maintain power to defend and uphold them is the same as giving up on them.
What I am talking about is a justification for the government paying each and every individual a regularly stipend. A justification that doesn’t rely on “welfare” or “charity”.
UBI is a citizenship dividend. It is what the government owes each of us for allowing it to operate.
“Demanding a job” in order to survive is servitude.
If we need to pick up steel, or confiscate gold to convert this “parable” to “certainty”, so be it.
But few are suggesting a dividend. I would prefer that. Instead they are suggesting a charity program ran out of the general fund based on whatever taxes corporations couldnt get out of. With no ownership, as mechanisms to ensure that the direction is in the public good, being mentioned.
That’s charity. It’s alms from the lords table. What they ought to give after the had what they wanted.
If we get it. Great! Alms save lives. I just don’t people mistaking it as some kind of working class win for control.
They are asking for money to be given to every individual, equally, regardless of circumstances.
That act can be called charity. It can be called an entitlement. It can be called a bribe. It can be called a stimulus. It can be called a refund. It can be called a gift. It can be called wealth redistribution. It can be called a dividend.
Every single time you see “UBI” and take umbrage at the idea of “charity”, feel free to substitute “Citizenship Dividend”. The two terms are functionally identical. Their only differences are a matter of philosophy. You can make it very clear that you do not subscribe to the “charity” or “wealth redistribution” philosophies if you find those justifications offensive, while continuing to support the regular release of “dividend checks”.