Is our economy totally screwed? Andrew Yang and I debate.

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, News Commentary, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.5 • 11.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2018

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"The future without jobs will come to resemble either the cultivated benevolence of Star Trek or the desperate scramble for resources of Mad Max,” writes Andrew Yang. Well then. Yang is the founder of Venture for America, the author of The War on Normal People, and an outsider candidate for the Democratic nomination in 2020. His campaign is based on a grim view of the economy he sees coming: AI, automation, and globalization leading to mass joblessness. The only things that can save us, he says, are a universal basic income (UBI), a redefinition of what work is and how it’s compensated, and a redefinition of how we measure economic and social progress. I’ll be honest. I’m skeptical of the robots-will-take-all-the-jobs thesis that’s took Silicon Valley, and much of the punditariat, by storm. Yang and I debate those doubts, as well as the different arguments for a UBI (and the various ways to finance it). You want big ideas? Here they are. Recommended Books: Give People Money by Annie Lowrey (I promise I did not push Andrew to recommend this!) AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order by Kai-Fu Lee Squeezed by Alissa Quart Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This economy is not designed to serve human beings.
0:02.8	It is designed to serve capital efficiency, GDP,
0:06.5	and economic indicators are just going to turn on more and more of us over time.
0:22.8	Hello and welcome to the Ezra Pansion, the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:26.3	First up, I got a job announcement that I think will be of interest to at least some of you.
0:30.3	We are hiring for a deputy policy editor.
0:33.1	This is a great job for people who are interested in the kind of things we are interested in on the show.
0:38.4	You should apply if you're an editor with some experience and you're obsessed with
0:43.2	clear pros. You believe policy is what makes politics actually interesting, right?
0:47.6	We want somebody here who is naturally obsessed with policy, who looks at the world and sees
0:53.2	nothing but policy stories.
0:54.8	There's somebody who likes looking at NDR papers for fun.
0:58.0	So go to Voxmedia.com slash careers, again Voxmedia.com slash careers to check that out.
1:03.7	Second announcement, this week, explained on Netflix, our Netflix show.
1:07.8	I tell you about it a lot, but this week, y'all, this week, we have Kristen Bell.
1:12.0	Yeah, yeah, that Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars, Kristen Bell, good place Kristen Bell,
1:16.7	narrating an episode on immortality on whether we can and should live forever,
1:21.5	that the science and the ethics of it.
1:24.4	If the human lifespan is 120 years, why, even in developed countries, do most of us only make it
1:32.3	two thirds of the way there? What is it about old age that kills us? And is it treatable?
1:39.2	This is an episode that includes not just Kristen Bell, but Palme Anthony Appia, the former guest
1:45.1	from the show, amazing philosopher. This episode is great. This episode is so good that you begin
	...

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