The Importance of Universal Basic Income

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The idea that people should provided with enough income, regardless of who they are or what they do is a really beautiful impulse. But in a world of economic stagnation, u b i would face basically the same problems as the welfare state and real decline to funding it. As we see all these austerity measures that are constricting the scope of the size and scope of the welfare state, an stagnatd economy will be put in danger. And so our support for u b i can look much more like these horrible right wing visions that are coming out from neo-liberalism. They will be very disappointed when it turns out that the liberal project isn't such a transformative one.

Paris Marx is joined by Aaron Benanav to discuss why jobs are getting worse because the economy’s slowing down, not because technology is speeding up, and why that requires a vision of post-scarcity centered around human relationships instead of technological change.

Aaron Benanav is an economic historian and social theorist. He is a post-doctoral researcher at Humboldt University of Berlin and author of “Automation and the Future of Work.” Follow Aaron on Twitter as @abenanav.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network and follow it on Twitter as @harbingertweets.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Prop 22 passed in California, stopping gig workers from becoming employees
Paris explains the limits of a basic income, how Aaron’s book helps us think about the future, and the problems with luxury communism
Aaron explains why automation isn’t wiping out jobs
Aaron’s science fiction reading list: “The Dispossessed,” “The Word for World is Forest,” and “Always Coming Home” by Ursula K. Le Guin; “Red Star” by Alexander Bogdanov; “Hard to be a God” and “Noon: 22nd Century” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky; “News from Nowhere” by William Morris; “Looking Backward” by Edward Bellamy; “The Conquest of Bread” by Peter Kropotkin; “Trouble on Triton” by Samuel R. Delaney; “Star Maker” by Olaf Stapledon; and “Utopia” by Thomas Moore.

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