It is easy for us to get caught up in thinking that what we know is common knowledge. It is not. When it comes to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, society knows nothing. Believe me when I tell you this, they are completely clueless.

Today, I came across an article written on thenextweb.com. This is one of the technology sites that I frequent to get a handle what is going on. While not a bits/bytes site, it is written by people who are up on technology. They are covering most of the major technologies that are going to be revolutionizing our world. Therefore, I was a bit taken aback when I realized that these people have no idea what is going on and how the solution is right in front of them.

Some people take exception with me being one of the most bullish people about STEEM and one of the loudest cheerleaders. There are a variety of reasons why I have the outlook on this blockchain, many of which I keep sharing in my posts.

Before getting to the article, I must explain the concept of technological unemployment. This is an idea that has taken hold among the leaders in technology companies. Basically, automation and robotics are going to advance so far over the next 10 years that there will be massive amounts of unemployment. In other words, companies are going to need a lot less workers. Now, there are some who take exception to this idea, believing that technology always created more jobs than it destroyed. That said, most of the technology people foresee the impact of automation.

Because of this, the idea of Universal Basic Income is started to gain some traction. Simply put, this is the idea that a country is wealthy enough to support everyone, at least at a basic level. Food, clothing, shelter, and medical care are usually mentioned as the essentials. Of course, not only is this idea controversial, it also leads to an argument over how to pay for it.

This is where this article enter the picture. Again, it is amazing to see people in the technology field who simply do not understand what is going on. The solution is already present yet they are still trying to create ways to fix the problem.

According to Fuller the problem is, giving people money when they lose jobs won’t fix the issue, it’s a temporary solution and we need permanent ones. Sounds fair, and he even has some ideas on how to accomplish this end:

We could hold Google and Facebook and all those big multinationals accountable; we could make sure that people, like those who are currently ‘voluntarily’ contributing their data to pump up companies’ profits, are given something that is adequate to support their livelihoods in exchange.

Very interesting. So Steve Fuller, an AI expert, thinks that we should hold Google and Facebook responsible because people are "voluntarily" contributing their data. Well I cannot argue that is what takes place. We know people spend hours on Facebook, as an example, only to get nothing.

So how we solve this?

A solution that combines government oversight with a tax on AI companies — a UBI funded by the dividends of our data — may be the best option.

To be blunt: we should make Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other such AI companies pay for it with a simple data

tax.

Tax the companies that eliminate the jobs through automation. That is a wonderful idea. When have we ever used taxes to eliminate a problem? And what happens when the lobby for these entities start to frame the legislation: only robots over 250 pounds are taxed; we exempt anything in the healthcare industry; if it works with a human, it isnt taxed; the list can go on.

Let’s be clear here: the vast majority of us haven’t the slightest clue as to the sheer jaw-dropping amount of data these companies already have on us. The reason Google and Facebook can get away with it is because we’re all willing to consider our data an even trade for the ability to use Search and Messenger for free.

The amount of money these companies make from our data is astounding. Whatever the reason people are willing to trade their data, most likely more because they are clueless than a choice of a trade-off, the undeniable fact is that data is worth billions.

So the solution is to tax it and give the funds to the unemployed. I don't know about you, but my confidence in the government is not too great. I have a feeling, even if this was an ideal solution, they would botch it up.

Nevertheless, it is amazing that one of the leading guys in the field of AI would be so naive to what is going on. There are people trying to come up with solutions to the technological unemployment problem when everyone reading this post knows the answer.

For full article:

https://thenextweb.com/artificial-intelligence/2017/12/05/we-could-fund-a-universal-basic-income-with-the-data-we-give-away-to-facebook-and-google/

It is STEEM!!!!

Fuller is right about the data and the money it generates. His solution is to basically have that data pay each person who creates it. Does that sound familiar? Is that not exactly what happens on this blockchain every day? People create their own content and profit from it. There is no government meddling around trying to pass a law to make sure things benefit the most amount of people. Nor is there a lobby group that can influence the elected leaders. Instead, people post, comment, and upvote which leads to them being compensated.

Technological unemployment is a real situation and a universal basic income of some kind is necessary. There simply are not going to be enough jobs in the future to sustain everyone through the traditional medium of work. That said, there are a number of us on here that are already laying the foundation for ourselves and families. We know the answer does not lie in the capitalistic or socialistic structures established by the elite. Therefore, we opted for a new model which is far more effective.

STEEM is the answer to technological unemployment. A billion or so people are responsible for making Facebook a $450B company. These same people, on the steem blockchain, could enrich themselves. The solution everyone is desperately looking for is already being used by 25,000 people each day.

Mr. Fuller took an 18th century idea (UBI), looked at a 21st century problem (technological unemployment) and applied an ancient solution (taxation). STEEM, on the other hand, offers a 21st century solution.

Over the next couple years, tens of millions of people will find their way to this blockchain. In that time, we will see the value of STEEM skyrocket. There will come a point where 500 STEEM is a large account. People will be elated to get .5 STEEM.

That is the potential of this blockchain. If what people do online can create two of the biggest companies in the history of mankind, then people doing the same thing on a de-centralized blockchain which pays them individually has the ability to eliminate a great deal of poverty.

Have no fear of technological unemployment...STEEM will take care of that.

If you found this article helpful and informative, please give it an upvote and re-steem.

Pictures by google images.