The Mugwumpery

Will Glovinsky has a post up on The Conversation arguing that because AI inherits the accumulated knowledge of mankind, it owes humanity a tax (to fund a UBI) to pay for that knowledge.

The Conversation didn’t allow comments – so I’m putting mine here.

Henry George, famously, proposed taxing the unearned rental value of land (and by extension, other common resources) directly, rather than letting the appropriation happen and then redistributing after the fact. Lots of economists think it was a great idea that met too much political opposition.

1. This is Georgism only for knowledge instead of land. Glovinsky doesn’t even mention Henry George (for some unfathomable reason and despite mentioning George’s predecessors).
2. Children also inherit the accumulated knowledge of mankind. We don’t treat that as a reason for them to pay for it.
3. George’s system was a better idea, and would accomplish the same end in a morally and practically cleaner way.

Land is rivalrous and fixed in supply – enclosing it deprives others of access. Knowledge isn’t like that. When an AI trains or a child learns, that doesn’t deprive anybody of anything. Nothing is owed in return.