Subtitle: "The Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future"
I was initially turned off by the main title of this book. I'm still not sure if I like it. "Normal people". What is that supposed to mean? Am I normal? Does he mean, the middle class? He probably could have chosen a better title.
Andrew often promotes his love for Math and often wears a baseball cap emblazoned with the word, 'MATH'. While this wasn't initially meant to be an acronym, like 'MAGA' - he later said it could mean, 'Make America Think Harder'. I like this, but it creates a bit of a juxtaposition between his argument for universal basic income (UBI) and the MATH acronym. Why do people need to think harder when they get paid $1000 per month for just existing?
This reverence for math is what lead to the use of the term, 'normal' as in a normal statistical distribution. But, it still doesn't really make sense as all people would exist on the normal curve (including outliers). See graph below. After having finished the book, 'normal' means typical. 'Normal' people are folks who are unable to find work after their job is automated. 'Normal' people are folks who don't have the ability, drive, or time to obtain new skills in order to change careers once their current job is automated..
His main pitch is for universal basic income (UBI). He paints a dark picture for our future of automation. Machines will take over our jobs and we'll be left unemployed. He talks a lot about truck drivers in the book as there are many of them. Say you're a truck driver and have been for 20 years. This is all you know. You don't have any other skills. What happens you're replaced by a self-driving truck? What do you do? Go back to school?
Some of Andrew's points seem contradictory. He says people won't stop working if they have UBI, but at the same time people won't be able to find work because they only know how to do one thing.
I think eventually we'll end up in a situation similar to the humans in the movie, 'WALL-E'. This is a future where all human needs are automated which completely eliminates the need for them to work. I just hope we don't all become overweight blobs with bone density close to zero (as depicted in the movie).
The future of automation according the movie, Wall-E:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xToQ4cIHkk
While $1000/month for everyone in America sounds nice, I don't think it's the solution. Besides, why would you give a millionaire $1000/month? I'm not convinced this won't make people lazy. I think Andrew underestimates human laziness. I think that money would be better spent on programs that help them learn new skills.
Kudos to Andrew for narrating this audiobook, but 'twas a bit robotic.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_distribution
https://www.nhpr.org/post/2020-candidate-conversation-andrew-yang#stream/0
