Does anyone know about universal basic income or UBI ?
The idea is to give “money” to the people, with no strings attached. One who gets it can use the money for whatever they like. The idea is not new, it goes back to the 16th century when first mentioned by Thomas More in Utopia, a work of fiction and socio-political satire that imagines an ideal island society where many of the problems plaguing Renaissance Europe are eliminated.
So, why UBI ? there are several reasons for this ….
- Reduce poverty and inequality: UBI can provide a safety net for those struggling financially and help to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
- Increase economic security: A guaranteed income can give people more freedom to pursue education, training, or entrepreneurial ventures.
- Boost mental and physical health: Studies suggest that UBI can improve mental health and well-being, leading to better overall health outcomes.
- Stimulate the economy: Increased spending power from UBI recipients can boost economic activity and job creation.
- Simplify welfare system: UBI could replace a complex and inefficient welfare system with a single, unconditional payment.
Basically, we want wealth for everyone, or at least bring people above the poverty line.
But, people also think that there are some drawbacks, challenges, and side effects of the UBI, such as …
- Cost: Funding UBI for a large population can be expensive, requiring significant tax increases or cuts to other programs.
- Disincentive to work: Some argue that UBI could discourage people from working, although research suggests this is not a major concern.
- Inflation: A sudden increase in money supply could lead to inflation, though this can be mitigated through careful implementation.
- Fairness: Some argue that UBI is unfair to those who work hard and pay taxes, while others receive money regardless of their contribution.
Recently, the idea of UBI has come up again, with pilot and experiment run in several places around the world. Like in Spain (2023), the city of Stockton — California (2023) to name a few.
Part of fueled by our worries about how automation, AI, and technological advancements threaten to displace many traditional jobs, now even advanced jobs like software programmers.
But, is there any other solution better than the UBI style of “just giving people money”?
This is something that got me thinking ….
The idea is, how we can bring or distribute wealth (or some tradeable value) to the people, not by giving them for “free”, but by co-own, participating, and contributing to something.
I know it sounds like a Cooperatives, well I think it is
Cooperatives are businesses owned by “member-owners”. Co-ops are democratically controlled by their member-owners, and unlike a traditional business, each member gets a voice in how the business is run. Services or goods provided by the co-op benefit and serve the member-owners.
I think we can tweak it a bit. Using modern tools, technology, and business models. Make them seamless, and trustless, everything is run by the code plus AI, to maximize the impact and automate the operation. In modern terms, we will call it a DAO, or Decentralize Autonomous Organization.
Then, what is the use case? we need to find something bigger, something that anyone use, something that can be valued so big that can match Apple's value (in the future) …
You must be thinking, this is not an article, it is a scrapbook … well, it is :)
With this …. something … let’s call it “Mother” for now, from the Raised by the Wolves TV series … I imagine, something that everyone could use, so the potential users are millions, or even billions, across borders, so the impact, the value, and what the “Mother” brings back to the people can be impactful.
And the people, will not just be sitting on their couches doing nothing, earn free money. They will participate actively, we might gamify it a little bit if we have to …
If we can find Mothers, we might have something here ….
