theyre a very big deal in the startup scene
― lag∞n, Thursday, 28 January 2016 17:35 (eight years ago) link
YC-backed cannabis tech company hiring front-end devs in Bay Area (angel.co)14 hours ago
― karla jay vespers, Thursday, 28 January 2016 17:38 (eight years ago) link
what abt instead of free money, free weed
― lag∞n, Thursday, 28 January 2016 17:46 (eight years ago) link
yc runs a very well read and horrible message board if anyone wants to see what startup ppl are thinking abt this announcement heres the thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10982340
― lag∞n, Thursday, 28 January 2016 17:47 (eight years ago) link
I think the traction of the UBI idea is coming from a combination of a lot of poorly-managed office and service industry work that feels unproductive, increasing usage of gig economy jobs to boost discretionary income "whenever I feel like working" and increasing income and wealth inequality.
― service desk hardman (El Tomboto), Thursday, 28 January 2016 17:56 (eight years ago) link
Yep.
― schwantz, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:11 (eight years ago) link
Surprised nobody has brought up West Berlin here.
― Bnad, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:15 (eight years ago) link
u cn just start talking abt west berlin if u want
― lag∞n, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:22 (eight years ago) link
feel like some UBI researcher isn't gonna come to any amazing insights but the fact that this is an issue that's in vogue in silicon valley is still a very good thing esp since they'll be paying for it. the real hurdle isn't figuring out how the system could work, the real hurdle is getting the majority of americans to agree w/ the statement 'maybe some people just shouldn't work and that's okay'. that's not something that even the far left really believes today. kinda have to break some core american values before we can have a politician saying 'eh let's just let people be on welfare forever'. maybe kids who take a self-driving car to work won't see the world the same way.
― iatee, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:31 (eight years ago) link
feel like you have to lay the groundwork of institutions and activism decades before anything can happen and this is maybe a small piece of that
― lag∞n, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:34 (eight years ago) link
it feels intuitive to me that beyond some point, automation and AI will be replacing more jobs than can be created. how far off that is i have no idea though
― ciderpress, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:44 (eight years ago) link
yeah idk automation has been replacing jobs for ~150 years and hasnt caused mass unemployment yet, like pre industrial revolution ~90% of jobs in america were agrarian now its like one percent but there are other jobs
― lag∞n, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:46 (eight years ago) link
a lot of the dissatisfaction were seeing now with the job market has to do with a long term trend of replacing high paying stable jobs w low paying unstable ones which has mostly to do w the decline of labor unions imo
― lag∞n, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:49 (eight years ago) link
i say fine gut unions totally but replace them with just giving ppl money and lets call it even
― lag∞n, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:50 (eight years ago) link
i'll be honest, i'm one of the people who would sit and home and play video games under UBI
― ciderpress, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:55 (eight years ago) link
Isn't this the point of technology?
― schwantz, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:57 (eight years ago) link
i wld play online poker
― lag∞n, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:58 (eight years ago) link
the next wave of american values we're gonna have to break will include 'shame people who sit home and play video games all day under ubi'
― iatee, Thursday, 28 January 2016 18:59 (eight years ago) link
hard working video game players deserve our respect
we won't have an army anymore probably so it can be the new support the troops
yeah, eventually everyone will be grinding money in VR MMOs while robots do all their work irl
― ciderpress, Thursday, 28 January 2016 19:01 (eight years ago) link
btw twitch streams look pretty great on my teevee
I get to watch other people get frustrated at ridiculous games like Destiny instead of hurling my own controller across the room
― service desk hardman (El Tomboto), Thursday, 28 January 2016 19:47 (eight years ago) link
I'll take the twenty hour week, free education, free healthcare and good social welfare as a middle ground here but I'm p conservative so
― broderik f (darraghmac), Thursday, 28 January 2016 22:13 (eight years ago) link
pshh ya'll are so basic
― rap is dad (it's a boy!), Thursday, 28 January 2016 22:26 (eight years ago) link
Incoming
― broderik f (darraghmac), Thursday, 28 January 2016 22:27 (eight years ago) link
seriously though, I can't read a thread like this without thinking of that TNC reparations article, idk i think I typed some stuff above but that's all I have to add rn
― rap is dad (it's a boy!), Thursday, 28 January 2016 22:36 (eight years ago) link
I can read almost anything without thinking of tnc and its a very fine mode of existence indeed.
― broderik f (darraghmac), Thursday, 28 January 2016 22:53 (eight years ago) link
careful, some might call that privileged
― F♯ A♯ (∞), Thursday, 28 January 2016 22:54 (eight years ago) link
Oh they'll be along I'm sure.
― broderik f (darraghmac), Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:02 (eight years ago) link
LOL!
― schwantz, Thursday, 28 January 2016 23:11 (eight years ago) link
idk i think I typed some stuff above but that's all I have to add rn
― rap is dad (it's a boy!), Thursday, January 28, 2016 5:36 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
mm yes noted
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 00:29 (eight years ago) link
i'm fascinated by how it's captured the political imagination lately, i don't know why a VC firm is studying it we already have lots of research on how labor supply reacts to welfare― flopson, Thursday, January 28, 2016 12:17 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalinkyeah idk theres not a lot of information about just unconditionally giving everyone money it wld prob have pretty different outcomes than say our current system where only the extremely poor get money then if they start making money they dont get it anymore, obvs there are tons other way we give people money but theyre all contingent on certain /somethings/, data on just giving everyone money is pretty rare, tho not sure how y combinators going to address that
― flopson, Thursday, January 28, 2016 12:17 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah idk theres not a lot of information about just unconditionally giving everyone money it wld prob have pretty different outcomes than say our current system where only the extremely poor get money then if they start making money they dont get it anymore, obvs there are tons other way we give people money but theyre all contingent on certain /somethings/, data on just giving everyone money is pretty rare, tho not sure how y combinators going to address that
obvious point that I suspect you understand but only poor ppl would receive positive net transfers, as you make more money your tax receipts exceed the value of the transfer. so it just depends on how progressive taxes are.I guess the only difference between welfare is you don't have to sign up for it
― flopson, Friday, 29 January 2016 00:52 (eight years ago) link
gig economy is not actually a thing fyi
― flopson, Friday, 29 January 2016 00:53 (eight years ago) link
― flopson, Thursday, January 28, 2016 7:52 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
it doesnt matter rich ppl still like social security and so forth
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 00:55 (eight years ago) link
that "imo" is doing a lot of work lol. also that framing is kinda wrong. there are more very well paying jobs than ever (there was some census chart a couple weeks ago everyone was freaking out about showing that the share of workers in the middle class shrunk, but most of the shift was into jobs above middle class). but there are also more low pay unskilled service jobs (why I think wage subsidy is best) and less middle class manufacturing jobs (which has more to do w outsourcing (which is good if you care about ppl outside of the richest country in the world)) and other white collar routine/easily codifiable jobs that were replaced by computers which, idk it's prob good that people aren't like typists anymore). if anything unions would decrease the # of mid class jobs by raising the wage, that's like the point of a union; my dads union has voted to increase current workers pay to the max every year instead of hiring more ppl, they only hire when someone dies or quits. unions are still good imo (though more problematic than leftbros will ever admit) their decline just isnt solely responsible for these massive long term labor market changes (that also happened in other countries that didn't see a decline in unionization rates)
― flopson, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:15 (eight years ago) link
the place where youre drawing the line of "well playing is doing a lot of work here http://i.imgur.com/i8nGznp.gif
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:20 (eight years ago) link
not to mention like ever wonder why low paying service jobs are low paying
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:21 (eight years ago) link
cause anyone can do them
― flopson, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:22 (eight years ago) link
right unlike work in a car factory 50 years ago
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:24 (eight years ago) link
which took the incredible skill of walking out of a high school and into a factory
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:25 (eight years ago) link
why are some non unionized jobs well paid?
― flopson, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:26 (eight years ago) link
youre so close the world is about to open for you
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:28 (eight years ago) link
btw I obvs believe in the union wage premium, but you can't say that's all that determines wages, or that well paying jobs only exist because unions restrict supply, if you extend that to the whole economy prices would blow up. one reason those factories paid well is cause they were really productive in a way a cashier isnt
― flopson, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:31 (eight years ago) link
they paid well because they organized and demanded to be paid well, before that they were not paid well
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:32 (eight years ago) link
the country is a lot richer than it was then yet a lot of people who used to be middle class are falling into poverty, walmart is the biggest employer in the world and the walton family is the richest you really think they cldnt pay their ppl a living wage, they cld instead they took the money themselves this is not hard to understand
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:35 (eight years ago) link
costco which arguably has thinner margins even than walmart pays their employees many of whom are cashiers a living wage
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:37 (eight years ago) link
http://i68.tinypic.com/98woix.jpg
Explain this graph to me using unions
― flopson, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:37 (eight years ago) link
yet the reaction is still to throw ones hands up in the air and say globalism as a handful of people accumulate unimaginable wealth, great
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:38 (eight years ago) link
When did software engineers get organized?
― flopson, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:39 (eight years ago) link
I feel like ur trying to mix five different debates in here some of which I don't disagree w you on
― flopson, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:40 (eight years ago) link
― flopson, Thursday, January 28, 2016 8:37 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
were we talking abt the united states u smug piece of shit
― lag∞n, Friday, 29 January 2016 01:40 (eight years ago) link