Scott Santens
Writer and full-time advocate of unconditional basic income (UBI); Citizen of Earth and New Orleans; Bachelor of Science in Psychology; Editor of Basic Income Today
"Won't basic income give too much power to whomever distributes it?"
The fear a basic income guarantee could increase citizen subservience to government
One of the more common responses to first hearing about the idea of a basic income guarantee, is the fear that it would give too much power to government. The thinking goes that if government is giving money to everyone, then they could threaten to discontinue doing so at any time, preventing any dissent and potentially creating an . . .
Posted in: civil participationfearsocial security
Medium Article: John Oliver, Edward Snowden, and Unconditional Basic Income
Read the article I published on Medium on April 7th, 2015.
Summary: Both discussions of government surveillance and basic income require knowledge of present technology to better understand, and both therefore require simplifications to a single question we can all understand.
"Yeah, but who's going to pay for it?"
Alan Watts answers the BIG question
"Money, Guilt, and the Machine" by Alan Watts
(The following text is what I personally transcribed from the above video originally uploaded to YouTube by AlanWattsLectures of a lecture given by philosopher Alan Watts circa late '60s)
So this goes very deep into us. It goes deep, deep, deep . . .
Reddit, Robots, and Resources
Why I got into the idea of basic income and how we can go about implementing it
(The following is an edited transcript from my appearance on the Robot Overlordz podcast adapted for article form. You can read the original unedited transcript and also listen to the show in full here. A big thank you to Mike Johnston and Matt Bolton for the raw transcript and for having me on their show!)
The Origins of My Interest . . .
Posted in: automationbasic income experimentsfunding methodspodcasttechnological unemploymenttranscript
TANF is TERRIBLE
How temporary assistance for needy families is actually permanent assistance for state governments
There is a belief in this country that we help the poor, and the poor take advantage of this help to become welfare kings and queens. Both the left and the right perpetuate this myth in their own way. The left believes the government is helping people and the right believes the poor are getting too much. Both sides need to understand how the . . .
Dear Patreon:
A letter from a quarter-liberated creator
First off, I just want to thank you for creating your platform. It's really something for which to be proud in the difference you are making in people's lives, mine included. So I'm writing you to let you know a bit about me, how I'm using Patreon, my success so far, and something I call "The BIG Patreon Creator . . .
Posted in: artscreativityentrepreneurshippatreon
"What do we do about drug users with basic incomes?"
The question of UBI and addictive behavior
Any discussion about basic income and drug use first needs to be informed by learning more about drug users and their actual behavior.
To start with, please first read this: The Rational Choices of Crack Addicts
[Dr. Carl Hart] hoped to find a neurological cure to addiction, some mechanism for blocking that . . .
Posted in: addictionbiologychild povertydrug use
