By: Yanu Prasetyo
The world when
robots replace the human force is not only happening in Hollywood movies. It’s
getting more and more real.
On Sept. 17,
2018, Amazon launched its fourth cashierless store in Chicago called Amazon Go.
On the same year, another store with similar technology, JD.ID X-Mart also
opened up in Pantai Indah Kapuk in North Jakarta. Unlike Amazon Go, which is
US-based, the store in Jakarta belongs to a retail company based in Beijing,
China.
This kind of
stores use Artificial Intelligence (AI), Face Recognition, and Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) to operate their systems. Although we can identify them
right now, it is only a matter of time until other supermarkets start adopting
this technology to replace human labors.
The AI
technology is also common in the warehouse system in giant retailers like
Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba, which have benefited from using the robot for
lifting, distributing, storing, counting, weighing, and packaging goods. The
use of robot in hotels restaurants is also becoming a new market that continues
to grow and develop. In Japan, guests of Henn-na Hotel at the Tokyo Disney
Resort in Urayasu, Chiba, are served by robots who welcome them in the lobby,
bring their suitcases and clean up their windows and floors.
Imagine if
thousands of stores, warehouses, factories, hotels, and restaurants then all
adopt robots, how many workers and employees will have to be fired and lose
their jobs?
While such a
high efficiency can lead to a more significant profit and higher productivity,
it might create another unforeseen problem in terms of a higher rate of
unemployment and lower purchasing power. Consumption is the driving force of
capitalism. Without consumption, capitalism will die. This is where the hype of
industrial technology reaches an anticlimax. If this jobless future is not
addressed well, then there is no sustainability in capitalism.
It is well
known that the alarm will light up when a decrease in socio-economic inequality
does not follow technological progress. We want to see technology continues to
advance, but still keep the humans’ dignity, preventing them from falling into
poverty. This is where Universal Basic Income (UBI) elbows its way as a radical
idea to answer the gap between technological advancement and poverty.
Universal Basic
Income (UBI)
UBI is known in
the world with many names; Basic Income Guarantee (BIG), Unconditional Basic
Income, Unconditional Cash Transfer, or often also called Basic Income. They
can be translated as a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all
on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement so that they can
fulfill basic needs to live and participate in social life. Dutch historian,
Rutger Bregman, said Basic Income is the basic right of every citizen
regardless of their conditions — free money for everyone.
This new idea
emerged because of two things. First, the wave of automation would soon become
a tsunami for the working class. Second, the problem of economic inequality has
become increasingly difficult to control. In the United States, for example,
the combined wealth of the three wealthiest people such as Warren Buffet, Bill
Gates, and Jeff Bezos is equivalent to the total wealth of nearly half the
other US population.
Other proves of
the more severe problems of inequality is the rising homelessness, mental
health, health care, and housing is now a severe problem in the US. Many
families have to live in trailers park and live nomads due to unemployment and
economic pressure. Widespread political support for socialist-democrats such as
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC), for example, indicates that
US citizens have lost hope in the current economic system that only enriches a
handful of oligarchs.
These
progressive movements demand more radical changes such as raising a minimum
wage of $15 per hour, Medicare for all, free college tuition, the new green
deal, and demands for UBI application. One of the Democratic presidential
candidates, Andrew Yang, even openly brings up UBI as the primary policy
platform in his presidential campaign. He promised to give $1,000 per month for
adult Americans without any conditions. Although he claimed to be a true capitalist,
he agreed that it was impossible for capitalism to survive without policies
that were able to meet minimum needs.
Uniquely, UBI's
idea does not mean precisely the same as socialism. Nor is it merely continuing
the existing neoliberal capitalism. It is a pragmatic way to bridge the left
and right ideas together. The best analogy to see UBI as a derivative of
capitalism is to liken the game of "monopoly." In the game of
monopoly, each player will be given the same amount of money by the Bank before
the game starts. Similar to the universal principle of UBI, all citizens have
the right to get the capital money as Basic Income to be able to participate in
the market. Without the ownership of this necessary amount of money the game
becomes unfair. This is where UBI becomes an extension of the capitalist system
that is oriented to demand and supply where each actor can participate in the
market.
Of course, this
debate about the "left" and "right" directions is not as
simple as the game of monopoly. Many other things that make this
simple-sounding idea complicated when applied. Both support groups and critics
come up with arguments that are equally strong and reasonable. But whatever
your solution is, the jobless future is real and has arrived. Are we ready for
it?
As Nietzsche
said, “The big problems were like cold bath: you have to get out as fast as you
got in.”
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