Hilde Latour, a long-standing basic income activist from the Netherlands, has recently made a presentation on a TEDx independently organized event, in Amstelveen, Netherlands. Latour is also a coordinator / director at Wisecolab, a forward-looking organization of thinkers, activists and technology experts, who try to bring new common good narratives to people, backed and helped by technology recent and future developments.
Summarizing Latour’s TEDx talk, the following can be said: Hilde is on a mission to create a world free of poverty. A basic income for everyone on this earth will not only eliminate poverty but will also contribute to other goals like reduce crime and increase health. It will impact us all. There is no need to wait for politicians. Innovation and technology can help to create this sustainable future.
This TEDx talk, at Sant Cugat, Barcelona, features Daniel Raventós, president of the Spanish Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) affiliate and professor at the Economics and Enterprise department of the Barcelona University.
In this short presentation, Raventós defines basic income in a general sense, and addresses the usual arguments against the implementation of this idea. He recalls the predictions that John Maynard Keynes made for society in the 1930’s, and he talks about how Keynes failed to predict the actual workload people endure nowadays despite all the productivity gains, technological developments and work flexibility. In his concluding remarks, he cites Arthur C. Clarke‘s famous words about great ideas: that they all go through three phases, the first being “It’s Madness!”, the second “It’s OK, but we have other priorities at the moment” and the third “I’ve been defending that idea for many years now.” Raventós thinks we’re somewhere between the second and third phases regarding basic income.
