Should there be a universal basic income? The world is in the middle of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Some believe we will only avoid disaster with a bold new safety net.
The big idea: Free money for everybody
Should there be a universal basic income? The world is in the middle of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Some believe we will only avoid disaster with a bold new safety net.
A day in your life in the not-too-distant future: you wake up, have your breakfast, go for a walk in the sun. Come home, do some drawing, have lunch. Spend the afternoon writing, then play some video games, see your friends, go to a gig. And after this hard day's work, £100 has been deposited in your account.
That is the idea behind the "universal basic income" (UBI). Some radical economists think we should give every single person an unconditional regular payment and let them do what they like with it.
Although it might sound extreme, it is an old idea. Ancient Athens used to provide a small cash income for its citizens.
In the late 18th Century, English writer Thomas SpenceAn English radical, who died in 1814. He believed in equality of the sexes and the common ownership of land. argued that private property had caused unjust inequalities and that these should be rectified with a regular, unconditional cash payment to all citizens.1
The idea really took off in the 20th Century, winning praise from writers like Bertrand RussellA world-famous British philosopher and ardent pacifist. and Virginia WoolfAn English novelist (1882 - 1941) whose best-known books include Mrs Dalloway and To The Lighthouse..2 It picked up support from across the political spectrum until the rise of the New Right in the 1980s sparked widespread opposition to all welfare programmes.
But the term is a bit muddy. Some see UBI as a small income injection: useful to have but not enough to live on in itself. The "full-fat" UBI, in contrast, would be enough for someone to live on without having a job.
But why would we give people money for free? Many campaigners think UBI is necessary because of modern technology.
They argue that computers, and especially AIA computer programme that has been designed to think. , are going to cause mass unemployment, as more and more jobs can be done by intelligent computer programmes. That will cause untold misery and probably violent unrest.3
But if people have a UBI, advocates say, being laid off will be a good thing, giving them more free time without plunging them into hardship.
And it would allow companies to phase out human work instead of dumping it all at once. People could work part-time, or for just a few hours each day, without any loss of income.
Others see it as a way of alleviating poverty. They say programmes that give poorer people money under specific conditions are paternalisticMaking decisions for people instead of letting them make their own choices. and ineffective. If they can decide how to spend it themselves it gives them more dignity, and they often come up with better ideas than the donors.4
Critics of the proposal point out it could only be funded through tax hikes. They claim it is unfair to make some people pay to keep others idle.
They say technological progress will not cause mass unemployment. When much manual labour was mechanised in the Industrial RevolutionA period of sudden, rapid industrialisation that transforms a country from an agricultural to an industrial economy., they point out, this eliminated some jobs but also created new ones. They think the AI revolution will do the same.5
And they argue a UBI would disincentivise work. If people can be assured of a living, they will simply laze about.
But defenders of UBI are more optimistic. They say people have an innate wish to create. If they are not forced to work all the time to keep themselves alive, they will devote themselves to art, science and knowledge.
They point to Wikipedia as an example of this. Almost a million users make edits to the online encyclopaedia every year without getting a penny for their work.6 They do it simply because they love knowledge and want to share it with people.
Should there be a universal basic income?
Yes: A UBI will unleash human creativity, long chained by the demands of 9-5 jobs that kill people's minds and crush their spirits. It would create a new century of human flourishing.
No: Some people may be innately creative, but most are not. They would simply waste all of their newfound free time at the expense of other people.
Or... The world is becoming an ever more unstable place as technology disrupts the way we work. If we do not find a way of easing the transition, people who lose out from this revolution may turn to violence.
Keywords
Thomas Spence - An English radical, who died in 1814. He believed in equality of the sexes and the common ownership of land.
Bertrand Russell - A world-famous British philosopher and ardent pacifist.
Virginia Woolf - An English novelist (1882 - 1941) whose best-known books include Mrs Dalloway and To The Lighthouse.
AI - A computer programme that has been designed to think.
Paternalistic - Making decisions for people instead of letting them make their own choices.
Industrial Revolution - A period of sudden, rapid industrialisation that transforms a country from an agricultural to an industrial economy.
The big idea: Free money for everybody
Glossary
Thomas Spence - An English radical, who died in 1814. He believed in equality of the sexes and the common ownership of land.
Bertrand Russell - A world-famous British philosopher and ardent pacifist.
Virginia Woolf - An English novelist (1882 - 1941) whose best-known books include Mrs Dalloway and To The Lighthouse.
AI - A computer programme that has been designed to think.
Paternalistic - Making decisions for people instead of letting them make their own choices.
Industrial Revolution - A period of sudden, rapid industrialisation that transforms a country from an agricultural to an industrial economy.