Experts responding to a Pew Research survey were nearly evenly split on the question of whether or not robots and digital agents would displace a significant number of workers between now and 2025, creating huge knock on effects for the economy as a whole in the process. According to the Pew Report’s key findings, “Half of these experts (48%) envision a future in which robots and digital agents have displaced significant numbers of both blue- and white-collar workers—with many expressing concern that this will lead to vast increases in income inequality, masses of people who are effectively unemployable, and breakdowns in the social order.” Stowe Boyd, lead researcher with Gigaom Research, argued “The central question of 2025 will be: What are people for in a world that does not need their labor, and where only a minority are needed to guide the ‘bot-based economy?”
Betty Wallace, a recipient of the monthly payments who still lives in the farmhouse where she lived in the 1970s, recalled Mincome’s major impact on some families. Benjamin Shingler
[Craig Axford]
Residents of Dauphin, Manitoba who benefited from Canada’s experiment with a basic income guarantee look back upon it fondly. Research conducted four decades after the so-called “Mincome” experiment found the project resulted in a significant decline in hospital visits without producing a reduction in labor market participation.
In his keynote speech at the 2014 Future of Work Summit, Federico Pistono explores the myth and reality behind an unconditional basic income guarantee.
An interesting discussion of automation’s implications for the economy. Among the questions explored is “What scope is there for a ‘Basic Income Guarantee’ to address the needs of everyone who will struggle to find work in the new age of smarter robots?”
Panelists included in the discussion: writers James Hughes, Martin Ford, Gary Marchant, and Marshall Brain.
"Each year, about 40 percent of all food in the United States goes uneaten."
[Craig Axford]
The notion that there is not enough to go around is a common theme these days. However, this author argues there is plenty to go around and a living income guarantee is possible.
