SoftServe co-founder Taras Kytsmey, in a conversation for the Yellow Sneakers channel, analyzed a scenario that many consider utopian: half of the people unemployed, but with full social security. And he explained why this is not a solution to the problem.
SoftServe co-founder Taras Kytsmey, in a conversation for the Yellow Sneakers channel, analyzed a scenario that many consider utopian: half of the people unemployed, but with full social security. And he explained why this is not a solution to the problem.
Kitsmey believes that artificial intelligence will create a kind of robots — agents that replace humans in an increasing number of professions. Society’s response, he believes, will be a tax on robots.
«They will probably introduce a tax on robots. For that tax, people will receive, well, social guarantees, a decent lifestyle for people who have lost their jobs,» says Kitsmey and immediately asks the question: what about those people who have lost their jobs — will they find the meaning of life?
He paints a concrete picture. Let’s say half the people are unemployed but have full social security. They wake up in the morning. What happens next?
«Eat. Well, eat, and then sleep. Sleep, and then plug in your gadget,» the entrepreneur models. «If you’re not needed — you’re simply not needed — what to do? I don’t know.»
He does not rule out the possibility of entire industries selling challenges to people: subscriptions to «challenges,» VR adventure simulations, gaming platforms for those who have nothing else to overcome in real life. Kitsmey refers to the movie «The Game,» where the hero is given artificial difficulties as a birthday present.
«New studios will appear, they will say: 'Do you want to have a challenge? If you want, sign up, voila.' You will sit in some glasses and imagine that you are saving the world,» he predicts.
The most vivid image used by the SoftServe co-founder is Pixar’s WALL·E: people on spaceships, all with the American form of obesity, can no longer move around on their own — robots do everything for them.
«This cartoon is like a prophetic one for me now. Such scenarios may exist for certain parts of humanity,» the IT expert admits. He is not saying that this will happen to everyone. But he believes that this is a real scenario for a part of society — especially where social security is generous and motivation for self-realization is weak.
«A person needs a person. And that is the advantage of a person. If a person no longer needs a person, then there is a threat to humanity,» the entrepreneur states. He adds: the triangle «work — rest — children» is the key to the survival of humanity.
