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In the 21st century, all roads appear to lead to universal basic income
The idea of unconditionally providing all citizens an income floor sufficient for existence — a basic income [https://medium.com/basic-income] — looks to be at the intersection of an unstoppable congruence of events involving accelerating automation, growing inequality, the fragmentation of work, and the rise of the sharing economy. First, automation
A Basic Income Sermon for Christians
For some who are new to the idea of universal basic income, it may reflexively strike them as being somehow immoral. Be it seen as a form of theft [http://www.scottsantens.com/wouldn-t-a-basic-income-just-be-stealing-from-those-who-earned-their-money] , or in violation of the Protestant work ethic, or just plain feeling wrong [http://www.scottsantens.
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
