Is Technology making the Universal Basic Income already a reality?

Technology creates prosperity. It reduces the costs of almost everything we need. But it is a double edged sword that eliminates jobs that can be automated. This raises the question of what will folks whose job gets displaced do for a living? Some thinkers propose a Universal Basic Income that would allow to cover the basic needs for everyone. I actually believe that this income it is already being distributed. Let me explain:

For a while I had been intrigued by the idea that actually self driving trucks would become mainstream before self driving cars were the norm. There are several reasons for this:

• The economical pressures on the trucking companies would make this option a basic capital investment decision.
• We are running out of truck drivers, plus a self driving truck does not get sick, asks for a salary increase and causes less accidents.
• The technical problem is easier to solve, since trucks drive mostly on the road where traffic is less busy.
• There are potentially saved lives, since a self driving truck does not fall asleep behind the wheel, or texts while driving

Just a few days ago the first self driving truck got its permit in the state of Arizona. The initial permit is for development and would allow Daimler to test their systems in real roads. There are a wide set of opinions but it is not far fetched to say that by 2020 we will be having these self driving trucks being part of our daily lives.

When I talk to my friends about this, some take a Luddite approach and ask what will happen to the truck drivers. And also to every one whose business depend on their regular traveling. But there is another side of the medal. The beneficiaries of this cost reduction. We all consume stuff that needs to be transported to where we live or where we shop. As anyone working on operations, margins are usually razor thin, and depending on the item transport costs do play a role on this price. Reduce the transportation cost and we all benefit.

A company that starts using self driving trucks will see its profit margins go up in the beginning. Until its competitors catch up, and the first one decides to pass these savings to the end users. This is not something new. We all know it quite well from the electronics and computer industry. I remember buying my first PC some 25 years ago and paying 2,000 bucks for it. With 2,000 bucks today I would get not only a good laptop, also a tablet, a printer, a smartphone and keep some change.

If you look at it from the number of hours that I needed to work for my old PC back then compared to what I need to work to buy that new shiny iPad they have definitely gone down. There are many ways to see this, but a way I choose to see it is that I have been handed over hardware at a reduced price, or in other words I have more money left to buy something else with it. Thus my income has been already augmented.

There are actually areas where the cost of services is down to zero. Again, lets travel 20 years back in time when I started dating my future wife to be. We had these lengthy conversations over the PAY phone. The phone companies made a fortune out of long distance relationships like ours. Nowadays nobody needs to pay for long distance calls. Consumers have several free and good quality service providers to select from.

Enter the Universal Basic Income battlefield. An economist friend of mine once told me that a Universal Basic Income would just kill any economical activity below the level its set to. But even this fierce rational economist agrees that we don't work just for the money but for actually for the intellectual and personal stimulation that we get out of it. And while there will be people that might just live off that basic income, many others would look for an activity to keep them busy. And better of course if this activity pays.

So, let me now get back to that initial statement:

I believe that the Basic Universal Income is already being distributed.

You are cashing it when you call your family over Skype or Facetime. You are also cashing it when you buy something now that would have costed way more a few years ago.

However the question keeps coming: If that is the case why cant we make ends meet? I have two answers to that:

• The productivity gains have not yet reached all activities. Best examples are Education and Medical Care. And this is why the cost of these services keeps increasing and demanding a larger portion of our paychecks.
• We just buy more stuff, and have products and services that did not exist 20 years ago and that have had a great impact in how we live our lives.

As for education and medical care, technological progress is making inroads fast. Economical forces are acting at its best. Expert systems will be up and running in very specialized areas like radiology, where a human radiologist needs to be trained for 15 years. And online education is making big inroads with more and more people using it to advance their careers, like in the Starbucks back to college program.

And that iPad that costs less than a quarter of what I paid from my PC 25 years ago has way many more functions in it. And it has improved my life by streamlining communications and creating activities that just did not exist 5 years ago.

So, how are you going to spend your Basic Income?