There is a project in the works to determine if the US can line up with underdeveloped countries, such as Kenya and Honduras. The goal of the project is to capture data that reveals if free money on a regular basis (basic income) really does help people escape poverty and live healthier lives.
This is the brain child of Sam Altman president of Y Combinator, Silicon Valley’s largest startup accelerator.
Beginning in 2017, he and a group of YC researchers are launching the experiment in Oakland, California, where roughly 100 families will get $2,000 a month of Basic Income.
“I believe that when automation comes, we will have enough extra money that the math will work,” Altman stated in an interview.
So when the robots and artificial intelligence start replacing the American labor force, basic income could be a way of settling the masses. So we would truly be a welfare state.
“What’s unclear to me,” Altman continues, “is will people be net-happier or are we just so dependent on our jobs for meaning and fulfillment?”
Only the future will tell.