Does Universal Basic Income (UBI) Bring Us Closer to The Star Trek Universe?
In Star Trek Voyager Season 2, episode 1, the adventurous crew stumbles upon a planet on the outer rim and discovers, to their surprise, a few humans frozen in a cryonic state.
Upon bringing them back to life with an injection of vodka (or, at least, that’s what it looks like in the series 😃) and a quick history lesson, it was learned that these were a group of individuals who, at different points in time, had disappeared from the earth with no trace.
One among them, was Amelia Earhart, the first lady pilot who tried to fly across the Atlantic Ocean almost a century ago and disappeared from radar never to be found.
Initially it seemed to me like this Star Trek episode was making a case for alien abduction or close encounters of the vanishing kind!!
What piqued my interest in that episode was that another survivor among the humans appeared to be very restless. He claimed that he had invested a sizeable sum of money in shares at a promising firm back in the day (20th century) and bragged about how he might be a millionaire when they returned to earth.
Boy!! Was he in for a surprise, when the captain broke this news to him?
“We’re in the 24th Century, there is no economy. People are more focused on improving their lives”. — Captain Picard
The survivor couldn’t believe what he was hearing! I pondered this for many weeks, on and off.
Come to think of it, if all your basic needs, such as food, shelter, and clothing, were provided for, would you need to endlessly pursue riches?
So I thought to myself, is there really a path to this world?
It seems like this has been the subject of considerable discussion for a while.
Universal Basic Income (UBI)
Welcome to the solution, or so some of us would like to believe.
What exactly is UBI?
Simply put, UBI is a scheme that provides a set amount of money to an individual to meet his or her essential needs.
Who provides it?
Well, since this scheme is targeted at the citizens of a country, the most suitable party to implement it would be the government itself. This is provided the country’s balance sheet is healthy and it’s not seeking bailouts from multilateral institutions.
Why do we need it?
The so-called trickle-down benefits of capitalism have by and large failed to live up to their expectations. While it is true that open markets and increased trade globally have pulled a sizeable chunk of people out of poverty in many countries, it has also worsened the divide between the rich and the poor, and now, with the digital divide, it is even worse.
So, is UBI the elixir for humanity?
We should pause before we make any sweeping generalizations about what UBI can or cannot do. In its simplest form, it is a basic monthly payment for one’s basic needs. Any further assumptions that once basic human needs are met, wars will cease, conflicts will end, and our planet will become a more habitable place are all impractical.
So what do we really gain from it?
The question actually should be, “Who will benefit from it?” They’d be the ones at the bottom of the pyramid. It would benefit those ensnared in a never-ending cycle of poverty, unable to escape due to prevailing conditions, generational poverty, and a variety of other local factors. An income for these individuals could be just enough to help them play an active role in the economy and uplift their standard of living.
What are some of the challenges?
Some?? Not some!! There are many challenges!
Ask those who have implemented it.
- The most common fear you often hear is that implementing UBI would make people lazy. While there could be some merit to this, it may not hold good in today’s global workplace, where work addiction and constant competition are at their peak.
- Most countries already have systems in place to reward certain segments of underprivileged groups, such as unemployment benefits, care for the elderly, and subsidies on basic amenities. How will UBI fit into their framework without burdening the exchequer?
- Speaking of money, there will definitely be a cost involved! Ensuring that every single individual isn’t left out will mean that the government of the day will need to undeniably raise taxes or restructure taxes to achieve this outcome.
Has UBI been implemented before?
Some countries have already piloted UBI systems over the last decade for all the reasons mentioned above.
Let’s look at just 2 of them:
- Finland: Finland implemented a 2-year pilot of UBI in 2017. This McKinsey report explains the benefits and some drawbacks they encountered.
- Iran: Well, believe it or not, Iran may not get much press on this, but they have had UBI since 2010. Despite the fact that the country has been under international sanctions for a long time, UBI has helped them, to some extent, deliver assistance to the masses.
These two nations — one a democracy, the other a theocracy — present a very different image and demonstrate how widespread poverty remains in modern society, regardless of political structure.
Needles to say, a lot of other countries are in the process or have piloted similar schemes in the past.
So how is this all related to Star Trek?
Now we segue to a few more important scenes in Star Trek.
If you have watched any of the newer series of Star Trek (Voyager, Next Generation, etc., except the 1980s William Shatner series), a few things may have caught your eye: -
AGI in Star Trek
The ship doctor in Star Trek Voyager is an example of AGI (artificial general intelligence). This person is actually a holographic image who can turn himself on or off, interact with humans, diagnose conditions, and even prescribe treatments outside of his existing body of knowledge, and he has a very pleasing personality.
Although creating a similar character would require a combination of AI, virtual reality, and holographic rendition, leading firms are already working on developing AGI systems.
3D Printing in Star Trek
If you have ever watched how the crew of Star Trek pours themselves a drink, you will be amazed. There is a vending machine where they can give voice commands for almost any drink they want. The machine then generates the desired drink out of thin air.
Don’t be surprised, but the technology for this is already in the works.
3D printing is still in its infancy. If you have heard about lab-grown meat, you’ve heard about 3D printing. To have the innate ability to print any material (not only ink onto paper) into a 3D object that is as close to reality as what we see in the real world will be the next biggest disruption.
Companies today are being funded for this and have started working on it. Making this technology scale at a planetary level is the next biggest challenge.
Are you really trying to say that AGI will get us into this future?
I’m actually saying the inverse. In the universe of Star Trek, UBI (or whatever term they choose to call it) is what empowers humans in the world they live in.
One rarely sees a Star Trek episode on the Starship Enterprise that has corporate boardroom battles, marketing salesmen, or even people dying of hunger (although there is a certain species in Star Trek that specializes in this behavior and is highly entertaining 😄).
Because when your basic needs are met, those things become irrelevant.
If you’ve ever watched Star Trek, you’ve probably seen a group of people who represent some of the finest traits of humanity traveling the universe and exhibiting courage in the face of hostile and dangerous alien species. Strangely enough, this is in stark contrast to the humanity we encounter in our modern world.
Of course, I am ignoring the physics behind Star Trek here. For many of us, light-speed vessels, the teleportation of people and objects, and a whole lot of science are, from today’s viewpoint, still science fiction.
The key questions we need to ask ourselves here before implementing UBI are: -
- Will UBI mean a larger proportion of people are empowered to contribute to the advancement of humanity in ways only a fraction of us can do now? Will this, in turn, accelerate our overall progress?
- Will the lack of a money-driven economy, similar to the one we currently have, extinguish the entrepreneurial and innovative sparks that propel us forward? Will UBI turn us all into couch-potato gamers or metaverse wanderers, thereby decelerating, if not halting, our progress and turning us into new-age dinosaurs?
Will UBI take us a step closer to this future, or take it all away?
