Libertarian commentator Charles Murray gave a lecture on his theory of a future jobs crisis caused by artificial intelligence and the proposed solution of a universal basic income.
Murray is the author of a 1994 book "The Bell Curve," which attempted to analyze the role of IQ in shaping America’s class structure. His works have been criticized as making the argument that social inequality stems from genetic inferiority.
After Murray was introduced, a group of student and faculty protesters staged a silent walk-out in protest of his speaking at the University.
Murray stated that technology is fundamentally changing the structure of the American economy. He added that the jobs market is being reshaped at an increasingly rapid pace.
“Like many others things in technology, these curves are not linear, they’re exponential,” Murray said.
Murray added that the artificial intelligence tool Watson, designed by IBM, is being used to diagnose cancer patients.
“Watson is already better than the run-of-the-mill oncologist,” he said.
Murray gave further examples of the applications of artificial intelligence, including gaming systems and driverless cars.
“You can beat the world chess champion with a $35 software program,” he said. “The potential job market applications are horrific.”
Murray said, however, that he did not believe that the software was beginning to approximate human behavior.
“I’m just saying that the software has gotten so good that it is making decisions that have the look and feel of judgement,” he said. “If you can do that, replacing the jobs of white-collar workers is very simple, by comparison.”
Murray also added that this jobs crisis could not be resolved in traditional ways.
“Can [the workers] be retrained? Yes, they can,” he said. “Can they be retrained to be nuclear physicists? No, they can’t.”
He also said there would be a gender imbalance between future available jobs.
“What’s the trait that you need most? Conscientiousness,” he said. “Women are a lot better than that at men.”
Looking forward, Murray said he believes the world will enter a post-job state where many people are not employed for significant periods of time. He spoke about what he considers the core values to creating a happy life.
“There are four vehicles to achieving lifelong happiness: family, vocation, community, faith,” he said. “You don’t have to tap into all of these, but you had better tap into more than one.”
According to this theory, Murray said, it is still possible to be fulfilled without a job.
Murray’s solution to these issues is the institution of a universal base income, or UBI. Under this system, every citizen would receive $10,000 a year and all other social security programs would be eliminated.
“Governmental agencies are the worst way of dealing with human beings,” Murray, who identifies himself as a libertarian, said.
Murray’s UBI would serve as a base income, and people would work to earn more.
“People can make up to $30,000 dollars a year under this plan without losing a penny,” he said.
“You don’t want a UBI that enables people to go off and live by themselves,” he added. “You want a situation in which people have the road open to them to making a decent income really easily. And the $10,000 a year makes it really easy.”
Murray added that the system would be based in technological innovation, which would allow mild forms of regulation.
“[The UBI] is deposited electronically into a bank account, another very important aspect of the way I want to do it,” he said.
Murray said that the UBI would give people an incentive to establish connections and live together because they could then share their UBIs. He added that this would help reverse the trend of America’s communities losing their traditional values.
“The secret to the UBI is not that I have $10,000, but that everybody has $10,000,” he said. “And furthermore, everybody knows that everybody has $10,000.”
Murray ended his talk by describing the current social problems facing America.
“I am afraid that the U.S. is, by any definition, in an advanced stage of institutional sclerosis. We have become a class society unlike any other in American history.”
Murray said that America is becoming increasingly polarized, with urban and intellectual areas behaving increasingly differently from the rest of America.
“We have become very good at living glossy lives, but our lives have lost a lot of their texture,” he said. “That texture is best achieved by taking proactive steps to get yourself out of the bubble and be engaged in real communities.”
The lecture, titled “This Time Really Is Different: Coming to Grips With the Coming Job Crisis” was sponsored by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies and was held in 219 Aaron Burr Hall on Thursday, Dec. 8.
