by Karl Widerquist | Sep 17, 2015 | News
international basicincome week
International Basic Income Week from 2008 until today: How did it all start?
Basicincomeweek.org is finding out what is happening with Basic Income initiatives around the world, regarding International Basic Income Week and beyond.
The organization is talking with the people who brought International Basic Income Week to life and who have made it into the international event it is today. It all started with local events that everyone is invited to join.
Then Basic Income Week is talking with activists of countries taking part for the first time in 2015. Later on there will be interviews with initiatives that are otherwise significantly contributing to worldwide Unconditional Basic Income.
Basic Income Week has interviews with:
Further interviews to expect:
- 18th September: Enno Schmidt, Swiss Referendum campaign
- Pastor Diergaardt, Chairperson of BIG Coalition, Namibia
by Josh Martin | Aug 1, 2015 | News
Schiller writes on the future of automation in the driving industry and how truck drivers may prove surplus to requirements in the coming half-century. Schiller refers to Scott Santens who has written on the topic, noting that a universal basic income could help ease this automation transition.
Ben Schiller, “Why Truck Drivers Could Be The First Casualties Of The Robot Age”, Co.Exist, 6 July 2015.
by Jenna van Draanen | Jul 20, 2015 | News
New research referenced in a Wall Street Journal article shows just how much the world of routine work has collapsed, citing that over the course of the last two recessions and recoveries (since 2001), the economy’s job growth has come entirely from non-routine work. This comes at a time when an increasing number of scholars, politicians, and citizens are talking about basic income as a solution to what some see as an inevitable job loss from technological advancement. Sources note that we no longer need to all humans to work, as we once did, for everyone to live comfortably and that we need to adjust our expectations and values accordingly.
For more information on technological job loss and basic income, see:
Josh Zumbrun, “Is Your Job ‘Routine’? If so, It’s Probably Disappearing” Wall Street Journal. April 8, 2015
Matt & Mike, “Episode 153 – Basic Benjamins” Robot Overlordz. March 5, 2015.
Scott Santens, “Yes, it really is different this time and humans need not apply” scottsantens.com, January 15, 2015.
Alan Watts, “Money, Guilt, and the Machine” via ScottSantens.com.No date.
by Josh Martin | Jul 18, 2015 | News
In this segment of Huffington Post Live, Scott Santens, Jason Murphy, Stephanie Slade, and Steve Waldman discuss some of the best arguments for a basic income.
“The Case for a Basic Income Guarantee”, Huffington Post Live, 20 May 2015.
by Liam Upton | May 2, 2015 | News
Basic Income advocates around the world celebrated Basic Income Day yesterday, May 1st. The day was marked by an online social media ‘Thunderclap’ to spread the idea to as many people online as possible via platforms including Facebook and Twitter. As this campaign turned out to be so successful, it’s likely that it will happen again next year. Hopefully, the campaign will be able to take over other social media platforms too, such as Instagram. This campaign could use hashtags to gain more people’s attention on Instagram, especially if they got in touch with the professionals at TaskAnt to help them find the best hashtags. Social media can be a great place for making things go viral, so it can be beneficial for businesses.
The campaign was started by Scott Santens on the Reddit Basic Income community with a goal of gaining 500 supporters. With 4 days to spare, the campaign reached it’s goal and finally ended with over 720 supporters, 227 more than the initial aim. The result was the spreading of the Basic Income message to over 710,000 people.
Some of the larger supporters include political activist group Occupy Wall Street, environmentalist group Moving Mountains for Nature and venture capitalist Albert Wenger.
The campaign also received media attention from the Motherboard section of Vice online magazine. This year’s Thunderclap follows a similar successful Thunderclap last year for Basic Income which aimed for 250 supporters and ended up with 399.
For more information, see:
Thunderclap, “Basic Income Day is 1st of May”
