A shift towards automation and robotics has been the trend over the past decade. Amazon has acquired Kiva Systems and may soon start transportation and delivery systems using drones. Google has acquired nine robotics or artificial intelligence companies, including Boston Dynamics, and is considering launching the self- driven car as a commercial product. Elon Musk has launched Powerwall as the clean and free energy system of the future.

In the near future, technology will broadly consist of digital implements which can be operated using smart phone or device. As a broad swipe, (1) businesses such as Airbnb and Uber for stay and travel respectively, (2) utility-based cloud apps as Dropbox and Google Drive tailored to specific needs, (3) online counseling for technology, education, law and medicine etc. (4) combination of mobile app and Internet of Things (IoT), viz. Amazon Dash Buttons and Starship, and not forgetting that (5) there will be the imitation of humanly content as is seen with Alexa and Siri, are already ushering in this new trend for doing business. The Internet of Things (IoT) and other hardware implements (self driven cars, domestic robots, robotic butlers etc.) have already been successful in research and are teeming to take the next leap into the commercial domain. It is projected that over the next one to two decades, nearly 50% of all jobs in the United States, 36% of all jobs in the UK and about 59% of all jobs in Germany will be taken over by robots and smart automation.

There are two broad viewpoints. The reduced prospects for a job with an ever increasing population may lead to a modern day Luddite revolution, where swathes of impoverished and desperate masses destroy robots and machines in a futile effort to reestablish the hegemony of the working class. Economists and social scientists also have pointed to a coming of opulence where with the development of Internet of Things(IoT) and cheaper means for 3D printing, the cost to develop things will reduce to near zero. Thus, there will be plenty of anything and nearly everything, and a flash end to the known economic and commercial institutions and ways of the world. Least said, automation will certainly modify human society.

As companies take to digital and automation, they cut down on employees. This creates swathes of unemployed working class population. The brunt is even worse as most of the western world and the developing countries are consumer based economies. With a consumer population who is unemployed, a financial downturn will be created, providing fuel for social unrest.

Common Basic Income (CBI) is an attempt to redistribute wealth and give all citizens a flat, unconditional income. This shields the working class and mitigates the rich-poor divide in a high ended economy driven by automation and AI implements. CBI makes a full-circle starting from the Luddites in mid1800s, and automation indeed seems to overwhelm human beings and human society.

In a June 2016 referendum in Switzerland, voters overwhelmingly (76.9%) rejected a proposal to automate all of society, and provide an unconditional basic monthly income of 2,500 Swiss francs to every adult and 625 Swiss francs per child under 18, regardless of how much they work.

Opinion of the American people, as per a study by POLITICO, found 43% in favor of CBI. Technology incubator, Ycombinator, has an $60 million initiative to study the long-term outcomes of giving people a guaranteed income starting mid-2019. This program will unconditionally transfer $1,000 per-month to 1000 participants.

CBI was a heated topic of discussion at the 2018 World Economic Forum at Davos and may also feature in the US presidential campaign for 2020.

Though CBI finds approval from various governments, economists, technologists and Silicon Valley, it stands to skew society in the favor of the rich, and may add to the acceleration towards technological singularity.