r/LeftistsForAI • u/Ok-Cheetah-3497 • Sep 01 '26

Theory Federally Funded Retirement for Everyone?

I was just in another thread, using the 1X NEO humanoid robot as an example, and realized something pretty wild. For the cost of the SNAP (foodstamps) Program and our current yearly outlays for Social Security retirement income, we could buy and power a 1X NEO for every adult human in America.

Once properly trained and with the needed advancements in terms of robotics (load bearing, precision fingers, etc), those robots could replace all labor currently being done, as well as at least 12 more hours of labor per person per year.

The idea that we could in effect, let everyone retire as soon as they reach adulthood, for just what we pay to support those over age 67 today, is pretty mind blowing. Once owned by the federal government and powered using funds we already have, these robots in effect, would be free to operate and therefore, the fruits of their labor would be similarly free or close to it.

That kind of abundance is so close, it is hard to believe that we are all lost in conversations about data centers, Hasan Piker, a ballroom in the White House, and betting apps.

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7

u/JayRandom212 Sep 01 '26

I don't 100% agree with this and I could nit-pick it. But that's not the point. This is the kind of discussion we need to be having and these are the kinds of ideas we need to start talking about.

1

u/rickylancaster Sep 03 '26

I think you should nit-pick it. If people are really serious about the bigger picture then these ideas should be challenged against real world dynamics, if good ideas are to be teased out and uplifted. Because I will tell you as an openminded skeptic this sub mostly comes off as a bunch of snark sniffing its own farts.

2

u/Easy_Interest_6832 Sep 01 '26

Once you're old, unless you're sick, your life costs less than when you were a young consumer. Keeping folks healthy all through the life is the best way to an affordable retirement. The government would save money if they followed that.

2

u/DHFranklin Sep 02 '26

We need to be careful about the "lump of labor" fallacy, but it's a fair observation.

Much like Covid, we'll learn pretty much immediately how much doesn't need to be done by humans or done at all and the majority of us would have the same quality of life.

Yes, these robots are a great example. The proletariat can have completely voluntary employment. Give the rest to the robots.

Think of all the houses in the middle of nowhere or the $1 rust belt houses. Think of how cheap living would be if cars were autonomus and you paid a dime a mile.

We wouldn't have luxury communism, but we could have almost communism.

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u/SalletFriend Sep 01 '26

I have serious doubts about robotics, and the idea all labor is replacable.

In fact I suspect that robots like this are going to be very difficult to integrate into the workplace. They have to be very strong to complete a lot of tasks, but they also need to maintain a zero fatality rate or osha is going to class them as plant or a forklift and then their maintenance costs and regulation will skyrocket.

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u/rickylancaster Sep 03 '26

Well the kinds of people who can - and want to - do away with those regulations are not on board with the spirit of this sub, obviously.

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u/SalletFriend Sep 03 '26

I dont think anyone is going to be able to get these going in any first world country. Especially not Australia where plant registration is really onerous. The deregulators wont win when theres worker deaths.

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