A few years ago, those who warned us about the risks of technological unemployment were labelled as luddites, crazy, or techno-pessimists. Now some of the greatest economists agree that automation poses a serious threat to the economy, with jobs disappearing and inequality on the rise. Today, those proposing radically new ideas to deal with this problem are being called crazy and idealistic. Old ideologies are outdated in the face of exponential change; we need to embrace a more holistic and adaptive system. I believe experiments with unconditional basic income, coupled with the utilization of crypto currencies and blockchain-based technologies, will help us find the answers.’
Federico Pistono is a futurist, social entrepreneur, hacktivist, public speaker, founder and CEO of konoz – a startup that curates and organizes educational videos, whose mission is to become the largest online community for free learning in the world – and he's author of the best-selling book "Robots Will Steal Your Job, But That's OK: How to Survive the Economic Collapse and Be Happy", which has been translated into Spanish, German, and Italian. He lectures regularly at Universities and Fortune 500 companies about the future of humanity.
VPRO Backlight talks about the need for social security experiments to give people the opportunity to make the most of their own talents and qualities.
Featuring: Guy Standing (economist, UK), Matthias Gijsbertsen (alderman for Social Affairs, Groningen), Albert Wenger (venture investor, New York) and Michael Bohmeyer (IT entrepreneur, Germany).
Around the globe, experiments are conducted with alternatives for the existing social security system that has become stuck. People no longer believe in centrally organised long-term planning: change can only be brought about by bottom-up small-scale social experiments. Advocates of redistributing our prosperity and disconnecting work and income are fighting for this. In many places and using many different methods they are experimenting with handing out free money.
Michael Bohmeyer, a young German, has started a crowdfunding campaign for an unconditional basic income. With every 12,000 euros raised, one person gets an income of 1000 euros per month for a year. So far, eight people have been receiving this basic income. There are no obligations other than to submit themselves to research into how this effects their lives. In New York, Michael meets venture investor Albert Wenger who has been thinking about basic income for years. With his company he invested in many internet companies and with these investments he has helped young internet geniuses get well-paid jobs. But Wenger also sees that digitalisation has caused many people to their jobs. Embracing the development toward a basic income, he argues a new perspective on work.
British economist Guy Standing may be one of the greatest advocates of a thorough renewal of the social system. He has conducted basic income experiments in India and Namibia. He sees a growing economic class of flex workers and independent contractors with so little perspective that something needs to be done in order to prevent extensive social unrest. Earlier this year, Guy Standing was in Groningen on invitation by people from MIES (Association for Innovation of Economy and Society). Here, he had a conversation with Matthias Gijsbertsen, the alderman of Social Affairs of the city of Groningen. The alderman was inspired by the idea of a basic income and suggested to offer citizens of Groningen who are on social security the opportunity to earn extra money without lowering social security payments.
Since 1982, all inhabitants of Alaska have received yearly dividends from the revenues of the oil and gas industry without any obligation whatsoever.
Visiting Associate Professor in Philosophy at Georgetown University-Qatar, Karl Widerquist explains how a Guaranteed Basic Income would work. The push for Basic Income in Europe. The different ways of delivering a basic income. Would Basic Income replace the welfare state? Reversing Welfare “reform” overcome poverty? The problem with Libertarian thinking. Why Libertarians are all about entitlement and privilege. Also How Libertarianism leads to feudalism….
Professor Evelyn Forget, University of Manitoba, Canada, visiting the Finnish Parliament 25.11.2014 where she presents her research on a Canadian basic income pilot project in the 1970s. Evelyn’s article http://utpjournals.metapress.com/cont... Hosts were the Centre, Green and Left think tanks and the BIEN Finland basic income network.
Who should own property? Karl Widerquist explores the new possibilities of wealth distribution.
He is an Associate Professor at Georgetown University - School of Foreign Service in Qatar, specializing in political philosophy. His research is mostly in the area of distributive justice—the ethics of who has what.
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Rutger Bregman (1988) studied at Utrecht University and the University of California in Los Angeles, majoring in History. In September 2013 Bregman joined the online journalism platform De Correspondent. His article on basic income was nominated for the European Press Prize and was published by The Washington Post.
In September 2013 Bregman joined the online journalism platform ‘De Correspondent’. His article on basic income was nominated for the European Press Prize and was subsequently also published by the American newspaper The Washington Post. In September 2014 his newest book ‘Gratis geld voor iedereen En nog vijf grote ideeën die de wereld kunnen veranderen’ came out.
This film presents a huge social problem called technological unemployment. Whilst doing so, the film also presents two potential solutions to this major social issue. The transitional path described in the film concerns a transition towards a job guarantee program of environmentally sustainable, socially and scientifically beneficial jobs through a public service program organised by the government, coupled with an eventual transition towards an Unconditional Basic Income.
It is up to the viewer to decide on whether they see such a transitional path being a realistic consideration for governments around the world to think about.
Professor Evelyn Forget, University of Manitoba, Canada, visiting the Finnish Parliament 25.11.2014 where she presents her research on a Canadian basic income pilot project in the 1970s. Evelyn’s article http://utpjournals.metapress.com/cont... Hosts were the Centre, Green and Left think tanks and the BIEN Finland basic income network.
Forget everything you thought and think about work and income, this will wipe the blackboard clean with an other proposal. Panorama docu by Alina Kneepkens and Jozef Devillé broadcasted on belgian national television on the 18th of december 2014. Now in english! (based on belgian figures and facts)
Accelerating technological unemployment, with increasing numbers of people being displaced from the workforce by automation, is likely to cause growing social disruption and increased social inequality and alienation. These developments strengthen the case for a new social contract, with appropriate social, educational, and economic support for those who are left with no viable option of 'earning a living' due to unprecedented technological change.
This event examined a possible key element of what might become this new social contract: a universal basic income (UBI). UBI is defined as follows: an amount of money paid on a regular basis to each individual, unconditionally and universally, high enough to ensure a material existence and participation in society. The speakers, Barb Jacobson and David Jenkins, shared analysis and perspective of Basic Income UK, and answered questions on the pros and cons of UBI.
The meeting was chaired by David Wood. The camera was operated by Kiran Manam.
"An income is like the wind beneath your wings" it says at the start of the film. Should this be an unconditional right for everyone? Is this at all possible - a financial human right?
The film is exiting, moving, motivating and focuses on a precise rational point of view. It places the relationship and the main task of money under a new light. As a theme it is of the utmost relevance to our time.
The video was used as a basis for discussion in numerous groups during the time the Swiss petition for a Basic Income to be included in the Constitution was under way.
Accelerating technological unemployment, with increasing numbers of people being displaced from the workforce by automation, is likely to cause growing social disruption and increased social inequality and alienation. These developments strengthen the case for a new social contract, with appropriate social, educational, and economic support for those who are left with no viable option of 'earning a living' due to unprecedented technological change.
This event examined a possible key element of what might become this new social contract: a universal basic income (UBI). UBI is defined as follows: an amount of money paid on a regular basis to each individual, unconditionally and universally, high enough to ensure a material existence and participation in society. The speakers, Barb Jacobson and David Jenkins, shared analysis and perspective of Basic Income UK, and answered questions on the pros and cons of UBI.
The meeting was chaired by David Wood. The camera was operated by Kiran Manam.
Eduardo Galeano: "El mundo se divide en indignos e indignados"
The Crime of Ecocide
http://www.pollyhiggins.com/
"... move away from property laws to trusteeship laws, so rather than I own, to I owe. I owe a duty of care to this planet."
12-year old Victoria Grant explains why Canada (her homeland) and most of the world, is in debt.
"How the Media Frames Political Issues" by Scott London
In The Emergence of American Political Issues (1977) McCombs and Shaw state that the most important effect of the mass media is "its ability to mentally order and organize our world for us. In short, the mass media may not be successful in telling us what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling us what to think about."[13] The presidential observer Theodore White corroborates this conclusion in The Making of a President (1972):
The power of the press in America is a primordial one. It sets the agenda of public discussion; and this sweeping political power is unrestrained by any law. It determines what people will talk and think about - an authority that in other nations is reserved for tyrants, priests, parties and mandarins.[14]
McCombs and Shaw also note that the media's tendency to structure voters' perceptions of political reality in effect constitutes a bias: "to a considerable degree the art of politics in a democracy is the art of determining which issue dimensions are of major interest to the public or can be made salient in order to win public support."[15] http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/frames.html
I am just an anonymous citizen who firmly believes that we are the ones we are always waiting for. No saviors, heroes, leaders, gurus, or superior or inferior, we are all equals, and we need to think and behave as if it matters.
