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A review by phidgt
The War on Normal People: The Truth about America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future by Andrew Yang
3.0
“We are at the most dangerous moment in the development of humanity… the rise of artificial intelligence is likely to extend job destruction deep into the middle classes, with only the most caring, creative, or supervisory roles remaining.”
—STEPHEN HAWKING...
Back in 2020, when Andrew Yang was running for President, one of his main political platforms was the idea of a Universal Basic Income. His argument was that the average American worker was going to be replaced by automation and AI in the very near future, and a plan on how to handle all of these millions of out-of-work adults was going to be needed sooner rather than later. This idea was not well received because of a common belief that it would lead to people simply not going to or looking for work. But, if people have lost their jobs to automation, then where are they supposed to work?
UBI is not a new concept. Alaska already has a similar system in place, Finland and Germany have been experimenting with UBI for some citizens with mixed results.
In the first part of his book, Yang discusses the major fields of occupation in the United States, the numbers of people currently employed in these various fields, and the eventual likelihood of these people becoming technologically unemployed. It’s fair to say that his assessment is fairly pessimistic and downright bleak. A friend of Yang’s even commented to him that he should change the title of the book to “We are Screwed.”
The rest of the book describes how a Universal Basic Income can be implemented, the possible positive outcomes, and how everyone will have to rethink what it exactly means to be human. What Yang describes is an America where making money may cease to be the driving force for what it means to be successful; a sort of Star Trekkian utopia, if you will.
I’ve had this book in my collection for three years now, mainly because I was rather impressed with Yang when he was running for President and I was intrigued with this UBI concept, and I really like Star Trek. However, his book, like so many others, got lost in the black hole of my “to be read” pile. I think the book may be more appropriate to read now than it was three years ago, as the topic of AI and automation is now more mainstream in the media.
Back then, Yang’s ideas, while definitely not mainstream, were thought-provoking. The topic of AI and the “rise of the machines” through automation and the millions of people finding themselves out of work was also not mainstream. At least not in the media. Now all you hear about is AI this and chatGPT that.
The big question is what will happen when human work becomes obsolete? It will take a lot of open-minded thinking and acceptance to change nearly every facet of American life.
While Yang’s first profession is not as an author, the book reads well enough to understand the issues at hand. I would recommend it for anyone who might be trying to understand all of this AI talk and what it means for the future of humans.
—STEPHEN HAWKING...
Back in 2020, when Andrew Yang was running for President, one of his main political platforms was the idea of a Universal Basic Income. His argument was that the average American worker was going to be replaced by automation and AI in the very near future, and a plan on how to handle all of these millions of out-of-work adults was going to be needed sooner rather than later. This idea was not well received because of a common belief that it would lead to people simply not going to or looking for work. But, if people have lost their jobs to automation, then where are they supposed to work?
UBI is not a new concept. Alaska already has a similar system in place, Finland and Germany have been experimenting with UBI for some citizens with mixed results.
In the first part of his book, Yang discusses the major fields of occupation in the United States, the numbers of people currently employed in these various fields, and the eventual likelihood of these people becoming technologically unemployed. It’s fair to say that his assessment is fairly pessimistic and downright bleak. A friend of Yang’s even commented to him that he should change the title of the book to “We are Screwed.”
The rest of the book describes how a Universal Basic Income can be implemented, the possible positive outcomes, and how everyone will have to rethink what it exactly means to be human. What Yang describes is an America where making money may cease to be the driving force for what it means to be successful; a sort of Star Trekkian utopia, if you will.
I’ve had this book in my collection for three years now, mainly because I was rather impressed with Yang when he was running for President and I was intrigued with this UBI concept, and I really like Star Trek. However, his book, like so many others, got lost in the black hole of my “to be read” pile. I think the book may be more appropriate to read now than it was three years ago, as the topic of AI and automation is now more mainstream in the media.
Back then, Yang’s ideas, while definitely not mainstream, were thought-provoking. The topic of AI and the “rise of the machines” through automation and the millions of people finding themselves out of work was also not mainstream. At least not in the media. Now all you hear about is AI this and chatGPT that.
The big question is what will happen when human work becomes obsolete? It will take a lot of open-minded thinking and acceptance to change nearly every facet of American life.
While Yang’s first profession is not as an author, the book reads well enough to understand the issues at hand. I would recommend it for anyone who might be trying to understand all of this AI talk and what it means for the future of humans.