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Scott Santens

Unconditional/Universal Basic Income (UBI) advocate with a crowdfunded basic income; Founder and President of ITSA Foundation, Author of Let There Be Money; Editor of BasicIncomeToday.com

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Universal Basic Income Will Accelerate Innovation by Reducing Our Fear of Failure

Almost two centuries ago an idea was born with such explanatory power that it created shock waves across all of human society and whose aftershocks we’re still feeling to this day. It’s so simple and yet so powerful, that after all these years, it remains capable of making

Universal Basic Income Will Accelerate Innovation by Reducing Our Fear of Failure
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True Freedom Comes With Universal Basic Income

> “I can’t not do this, because I need the money…” — The thought underlying all exploitation which can be eliminated with one BIG idea I attended a national economic conference [https://medium.com/basic-income/notes-of-discussions-in-the-north-american-basic-income-guarantee-congress-of-2015-56607ceb9362] in New York in 2015, and in one of the presentations, the speaker presented

True Freedom Comes With Universal Basic Income
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How to Make Our Votes for President of the United States Actually Count

After what feels like the longest election in the history of the United States, Election Day 2016 is finally coming up on November 8th, and once again, because of the Electoral College system and how it works, for the majority of citizens, myself included, our votes won’t actually matter.

How to Make Our Votes for President of the United States Actually Count
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From Rats in Cages to Primates in Paradise — The Scientific Story of Stress in Society

The immediate need for basic income in recognition of the effects of chronic stress and the importance of improving environments At the end of 2015, after a year-long journey, I achieved the realization of an idea with the help of about 140 people that has already forever changed the way

From Rats in Cages to Primates in Paradise — The Scientific Story of Stress in Society
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The Progressive Case for Replacing the Welfare State with Universal Basic Income

(This article was originally published on techcrunch.com [https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/09/the-progressive-case-for-replacing-the-welfare-state-with-basic-income/] ) It appears some establishment voices have picked up on a way of opposing the idea of the monthly citizen dividend of about $1,000 per month, known as universal basic income (UBI), in a way

The Progressive Case for Replacing the Welfare State with Universal Basic Income
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Olympians and the Great Myth of Meritocracy

The Olympics provides a great opportunity to take a closer look at the popular myth of meritocracy, where winners come out on top thanks to hard work and losers simply just weren’t good enough. That the discussion during this most recent Olympics has been centered so much around performance-enhancing

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Forget the future of work. What about the future of consumption?

Discussing the future of work is all the rage these days. Some say we're on the verge of the robot apocalypse of jobs. Others say jobs will always be created in sufficient numbers (and at sufficient rates) and that everything will be fine. Regular readers know where I

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Giving Goods vs. Giving Money

I love watching documentaries and one of my recent favorites on Netflix, aside from Noam Chomsky's "Requiem for the American Dream", is "Poverty, Inc." I highly recommend just watching the entire film yourself, but there is one story from it that is one of

Giving Goods vs. Giving Money
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Why Switzerland’s basic income idea is not crazy

Seven out of 10 voters fully expect another referendum in Switzerland, and the beginning of a necessary national conversation This article was originally published on POLITICO [https://www.politico.eu/article/unconditional-basic-income-news-why-switzerlands-basic-income-idea-is-not-crazy-vote-referendum/] Switzerland has voted against [https://www.politico.eu/article/switzerlands-voters-reject-plan-provide-base-income-for-all-francs-referendum-welfare-democracy/] providing everyone a monthly

Why Switzerland’s basic income idea is not crazy
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The Results of the Basic Income Referendum in Switzerland

Today is the day Switzerland voted on the idea of an unconditional basic income. It is a first. It is historic. It is direct democracy in action. As I write this here from inside the campaign headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, the polls are still open and people are still voting,

The Results of the Basic Income Referendum in Switzerland