by Yannick Vanderborght | May 24, 2012 | Research
This opinion piece was published by the prestigious German daily ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’ (18 May 2012). Frank Rieger, a speaker of the German Chaos Computer Club, discusses an upcoming revolution and the fact that we are able to control its consequences: if robots and algorithms replace us in the labour market, they should also substitute us as taxpayers. The current tax philosophy caused a social and financial collapse of the state and society. Hence, the tax system should be gradually redesigned towards an indirect taxation of non-human work, in order to pay a basic income under the form of an automation dividend.
Rieger writes that if the tax system is designed in a way that more automation leads to more real wealth for all, and hence social peace is kept sustainable because all would benefit from the productivity improvement, the result would be a competitive advantage of historical dimensions.
Within such an automation friendly society nobody has to fear losing a job, since robots and algorithms will pay for our pensions, sparing us from the myriad of pension troubles that people currently face, as well as ensuring a universal basic income. Of course such a model requires significant investments in the technical and social research and development.
Obviously, for most people a job is more than a source of income: it helps to improve our self-confidence and to structure our life. Without a regular, preferably meaningful activity, a lot of people become depressed and bored. Hence, it is important to counter these feelings. Actually there is enough to be done, precisely in social areas, in art and culture, in the revitalisation of the landscape and towns – things that the market does not appropriately reward.
The German Article is available online at: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/automatisierungsdividende-fuer-alle-roboter-muessen-unsere-rente-sichern-11754772.html
by Yannick Vanderborght | May 17, 2012 | News
Basic Income was a recent topic in the German Web-TV channel “Deutsche Welle.” Herbert Wilkens, economist and an advocate of the basic income, took the opportunity and presented the idea of an unconditional basic income.
The show – in English – can be found online at:
https://www.dw.de/dw/episode/9798/0,,15879017,00.html
The part about Basic Income starts at 00:17:30.
by Yannick Vanderborght | Apr 22, 2012 | News
The deadline for the call for proposals has been extended to May 6, 2012. The conference will take place in Ottobrunn (Munich), Germany on September 14 to 16, 2012.
More than 150 participants have already agreed to come, including Philippe Van Parijs, Götz W. Werner, Claus Offe, Min Geum, Renana Jhabvala, Baptiste Mylondo, Ingrid van Niekerk, Guy Standing, Tereza Helena Gabrielli Barreto Campello, and many others.
You send a proposal by going to the following link:
https://www.bien2012.de/en/submit-a-contribution
You can see the call for papers at the following link:
https://www.bien2012.de/en/call-for-paper-0
by Karl Widerquist | Apr 11, 2012 | News
A small group of individuals active in art, design, film and politics has launched a new webpage with the idea of introducing the idea of an unconditional basic income to its visitors interactively. More than 40 clips cover various aspects and answer questions about the unconditional basic income. The webpage is only available in German so far, but any clip can be watched with English subtitles. Click “CC” (Subtitles) in the menu-bar of the clip to watch them with English subtitles.
The webpage can be found online at:
https://www.bge-interaktiv.de/
by Yannick Vanderborght | Apr 8, 2012 | News
The 14th Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network will take place from September 14th to September 16nd, at the Wolf-Ferrari-Haus in Ottobrunn near Munich. The congress main theme deals with pathways to a basic income.
Website: www.bien2012.org (english, german)
Call for Papers
We invite all interested groups and individuals, both advocates and critics of Basic Income, to submit abstracts for presentations, workshops, and posters. Subject to constraints on space, film-screenings and readings will also be possible. Proposals of up to 300 words should be submitted here in German or English by 15 April 2012.
Kind Regards,
Academic Advisory Group for the 14th BIEN congress:
Prof. Dr. Claus Offe, Dr. Milena Büchs, Dr. Ingmar Kumpmann, Dorothee Schulte-Basta, Ronald Blaschke (Berlin, February 2012)
Register for the Congress
