The robots are coming – do I need to retire earlier?

As robots threaten jobs it’s increasingly common, on the right as well as the left, to suggest that we need a “Basic Income” safety–net for everyone. 

A kind of pension that you draw all your life. So whether you have a full–time job or not, you won’t starve.

It really isn’t clear if the advance of robotics and Artificial Intelligence will actually destroy more jobs than it creates. If that happens, it will undercut the goal of ‘full employment’ that has been central to the developed economies for more than a century. Full employment doesn’t mean everyone has a job, but it means most people who want one can get one. There’s nothing more important to governments – other than defending the nation from external aggressors – than keeping unemployment down.

While we really don’t know if clever machines will imperil the full employment idea, there are smart voices out there suggesting that, this time, it may really be in danger.

To read this article by Nigel Cameron in full, visit the UnHerd website.

• AI & Robotics

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