Signposts on the path to utopia

I love science fiction. My favorite works come from the ‘60s and ‘70s, when novels like “Childhood’s End” and “Stranger in a Strange Land” crystallized the genre, pioneered by writers like Isaac Asimov, of utopian speculative fiction. Don’t get me wrong, “Alien” and “Blade Runner” hold a special place in my heart, but there was an optimism in “Star Trek” that seems to have been fading since writers like William Gibson and Philip K. Dick popularized stories of a grim, dystopian future.

What worries me about the decline of optimistic science fiction is how distant it makes us feel from utopia. Countless writers make comparisons to the surveillance state of “1984” or the infantilized consumer culture of “Wall-E.” We forget the decades-old, techno-optimistic dreams we realized and begin to fear technological advancement.

Automation is a staple of science fiction and a real-world trend we fight at every turn. One reason we resist automation is a concern for jobs. The argument goes back to the Industrial Revolution. When machines could manufacture textiles, what happened to weavers? When cars drive themselves, what happens to truckers? The answer remains the same: There will be more jobs. It’s tempting to see short-term problems and push for action. It’s healthy to empathize with workers who are laid off. What is not healthy is to subsequently take action that is harmful in the long term. History has shown the benefits of technological advancement to be greater than the costs. Where old jobs are eliminated, new ones are created, and we enjoy the cheaper goods and higher standard of living that come from streamlined production.

The difference between the Industrial Revolution and the information age is that where assembly-line manufacturing meant we needed fewer skilled workers, advances in technology mean we need more. How can we meet an ever-increasing demand for skilled labor? Education must become more accessible. Sen. Bernie Sanders popularized free tuition in his presidential campaign last year, especially among college-age supporters, many of whom expect to graduate with record debt.

This is not a radical idea. Free tuition already exists in Norway, Finland, Sweden and Germany. In an NPR interview, an education analyst from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development attested that increased tax revenue from better-educated citizens more than covers the cost.

The goal of this automation and education is a post-scarcity society — one in which every person can afford necessities with little to no work. There is already discussion among economists as to whether we are approaching post-scarcity and how to handle this unprecedented shift. The entire framework of capitalism depends on scarcity. Without it, we enter a world with which we have no experience.

Despite this looming unknown, Martin Luther King Jr., Napoleon Bonaparte, American revolutionary Thomas Paine and renowned economist Milton Friedman have all advocated for a guaranteed minimum income, which would provide everyone with enough money to afford basic needs. Forms of guaranteed income have already been introduced in France, Alaska and parts of Canada. The system has been shown to improve health and education for low-income populations.

Some argue that disincentivizing work will halt cultural progress, but as Evelyn Forget, an economist at the University of Manitoba, remarked in an interview, countless scientific breakthroughs have been made by “gentlemen of leisure,” inventors who did not work. Sam Altman, the president of venture capital firm Y Combinator, adds that, “Maybe 90 percent of people will go smoke pot and play video games. But if 10 percent of the people go create new products and services and new wealth, that’s still a huge net win.”

The world is not devoid of problems. However, perspective is vital. We are closer to utopia than ever. Now is not the time to let fear of change drive us back. It is time to push harder for clean energy, social progress and an end to poverty and war. We are closer than you think.

David Billig is a UF linguistics masters student. His column appears on Wednesdays.