Make America Great Again harkens back to earlier times, when things seems "great" for the average person. So when was it at it's "greatest"? Perhaps in the 1960's, when the CEO/worker income ration was closer to 20/1? It's probably not the only factor, but I'm willing to bet it is a significant one. At least for the average worker.

 

Well, imagine that. Apparently when you are beholden to your customers rather than your shareholders, your customers think you do a better job at it.

The record for public schools is pretty hit and miss. Even from a young age, I have had individual teachers and situations and classes in public school, that encouraged me how to think for myself and how to verify what I was being taught. It's easy enough to point to some examples to support your view, but just as easy to find examples that don't.

  Churches tend to be pretty consistent. The goal seems to be instilling unquestioning belief. Questioning the word of authorities gets you punished or ostracised. And it's almost impossible to find examples of the opposite.

 

  I am sort of torn between the ideas of a Guaranteed Job and Universal Income. The idea that you must work, are forced to work, when someone else eventually decides what that job must be, is demeaning. On the other hand, a society where nobody "needs" to work can lead to a society that isn't socially connected. Or possibly some needed things don't get done (garbage processing?).

  I retired at 55 (lucky me!) with a relatively good pension. My basic needs were all covered, with a bit extra for mad money. But I found it became boring. So I started up a small business, serving a need for many. Minimal investment. Soon it grew to 8 or more hours a day, as much as I did when "working full time". But I enjoy those working hours, more than I ever enjoyed the hours I spent working for someone else. I call the shots, I decide how "hard" to work, I select the priorities, and I can decide when to stop. I always have the basics covered through my pension.

  This pattern is not unusual. May people that no longer "need" to work, will find something productive to do with their time. If not a sideline business, then volunteering or other things they see as needing to be done. I have met many people like that over the years, more so since I became a part of that circle. Often enough, we end up kicking around other ideas on what else can be done, or needs to be done.

  So I suspect that even with just a UBI, enough people will "want" to do things. Society will not fall apart. Things will get done. Large scale stuff will end up being automated, while individuals will discover and implement small scale stuff (some of which may migrate to large scale). Ingenuity and creativity will become the "credentials" people strive for, much like the attitude entrepreneurs have today.

"We know from the past that the jobs that require low skills are more likely to be automated,"

Actually, we don't "know" that applies to the current situation. Understanding history is important, but you also need to understand it well enough to recognize when the situations are different. Don't confuse robotics with AI.

The top GO player in the world? An AI. Has it ever been beaten? Yes, by a more advanced AI. Same with Chess and pretty well any other game based on deep analysis of patterns.

AI is now equal or better than most radiologists in diagnosis. One of the best financial advisers you can find? An AI. Accountants? Yeah, them too.
AI finds more impact craters in photos of the moon than professional astronomers can.
AI is behind the analysis of individual consumer buying patterns used by Amazon and such. Something that might have been done on a broad and general scope by humans (market analysis), but was totally impractical to do for each individual consumer.
And don't even get me started on the spin offs ramifications of a wide deployment of self driving vehicles.

One common denominator in the current generation of AI deployments, is they are very, very, good at pattern recognition. And they keep getting better at a pretty startling rate. If your "job" depends heavily on recognizing patterns, especially from complex data sets, you better watch out for the AI. A geologist specializing in data analysis for oil/copper/whatever deposits? An AI is coming.

You have to be very careful how you categorize "lower skilled" when dealing with the ramifications of current AI technology. Would you really classify a radiologist, or a world class chess player, or a geologist, as "low skilled"? Lower than a self appraisal of your own skills?