Author: automata

Rethinking the World of Work

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The pandemic is accelerating a shift toward more informal and precarious work

With millions of jobs lost, robots on the rise, and white-collar workers toiling largely at home, COVID-19 appears to have ushered in a new normal in the global workplace.But many of these developments stem from failed policy responses to megatrends already in motion long before the pandemic struck. For at least two decades, shifting demographics and technological upheaval have been upending labor markets, exacerbating inequality, making jobs increasingly precarious, and deepening economic insecurity.The new normal, in other words, isn’t really new. A deadly virus has simply […]

Robots the ally, not adversary, of labourers

Robots the ally, not adversary, of labourers

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a buzzword that has infiltrated almost everyone’s vernacular. Writers, media houses and technology sector billionaires like Elon Musk warn of a gloomy, even disastrous, future with AI — a future that is forewarned by popular culture’s fictional fantasies.

The anxiety that robots will annihilate the human race was driven into popular culture after the 1920 Czech play Rossum’s Universal Robots . In the dramatic play, a scientist named Rossum creates the first robots whom he employs as slave-like labourers. As the play progresses, the robots develop emotional capacities and come to dominate their creators. The popular […]

Assam Govt to provide Rs. 830 to Orunodoi Scheme beneficiaries on Tuesday

GUWAHATI: The Assam government’s ambitious ‘Orunodoi’ scheme, seeking to benefit women-headed households and specially-abled persons, will be formally launched in 29 districts on Tuesday, finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday.

The state government has already selected 18.20 lakh beneficiaries in 29 districts but this was expected to go up to 22 lakh as the districts under the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) have not been included due to the model code of conduct for the forthcoming Bodo Territorial Council (BTC) polls, the minister said at a press conference here.

Of the 18.20 lakh beneficiaries, it […]

What would you change in your life if your income was secured?

What would you change in your life if your income was secured?

The biggest question in the world asked during the UBI referendum in Switzerland (Image by Generation Grundeinkommen en Flickr) This is what the UBI4ALL Campaign is trying to answer by means of a lottery where residents of the European Union can win a Basic Income, the money for which has been obtained via crowdfunding.

Anyone in the European Union can win an 800€ a month Unconditional Basic Income as of Thursday, 26 November 2020. UBI4ALL, as the pan-European project is called, collects money through crowdfunding and raffles it as Basic Income. The lottery is open to anyone aged 16 and […]

Can I cash in a pension annuity? An expert explains your options if you have a poor value retirement fund

Can I cash in a pension annuity? An expert explains your options if you have a poor value retirement fund

The annuity is only worth about £15,000 and pays me £1,124 a year. Can I cash it in?

The annuity pays an income of just over £90 per month, or £1,124 a year (Photo: PA) I have a final salary pension plus the state pension, and I also have a flexible annuity.

Since 2013 this annuity has given me £1,124 gross per year.The fund is only worth about £15,000 but I would appreciate knowing if there is any way I can transfer this money out.The last coalition government was looking to allow annuities to be cashed in. Can I do […]

Pilot project for the introduction of unconditional basic income

Pilot project for the introduction of unconditional basic income

COVID-19 has made it necessary for the European Union and its citizens to take a fresh look at their way of doing things and their outlook on life. The worsening economic and social crisis is evidence that European and national institutions cannot be held to the stratagems previously employed to resolve the debt problems of central governments, households and companies

On 17 September 2020, Portuguese Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Francisco Guerreiro of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance, posed a written parliamentary question to the European Commission.

In the midst of discussions on the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework […]

Does automation spell the end of capitalism?

Does automation spell the end of capitalism?

Capitalism will not ‘automatically’ morph into some ‘postcapitalist’ or socialist system due to technology replacing the human workforce. As the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY explains, ending capitalism will require a conscious, collective action on the part of ‘the many’ — the working class

THE END OF WORK? Labour leader Keir Starmer meets a fleet of Starship delivery robots at a Co-op in Milton Keynes, during a visit to discuss technological innovation during Covid-19 AUTOMATION — defined as the introduction of a technology whereby a process (physical or informational) can be accomplished with significantly reduced human agency — has deep historic […]

Unemployment in the corona pandemic: why all of Germany now needs the solidary basic income – Berlin

Unemployment in the corona pandemic: why all of Germany now needs the solidary basic income – Berlin

An old popular saying goes to save time, so you have to go in need. Why do I come across this in connection with the Solidarity Basic Income (SGE)?

When I first outlined the idea of ​​a solidary basic income in my article “Digital and Social” in October 2017 on the occasion of the Berlin Federal Council Presidency and developed it into a labor market project for Berlin, Moft’s shoulders were shrugged: Unemployment is falling. There have never been so many jobs subject to social security contributions. The economy is booming.

But the time was just right. Because in good times […]

For Sonora’s Tianguistas, Other Informal Workers, COVID-19 Brings Unique Challenges

For Sonora’s Tianguistas, Other Informal Workers, COVID-19 Brings Unique Challenges

Download mp3 (6.13 MB) On a recent weekday, the Hector Espino Tianguis was almost empty. On a typical pre-pandemic weekend, the Hector Espino tianguis — or flea market — is teeming with buyers and sellers. But on a recent pandemic weekday, it was all but dead: most of the roll-up doors were down, and the smattering of shoppers were outnumbered by shopkeepers.

Tianguista Benito Encinas was helping a potential customer track down a lawnmower. A fan was running to keep cool on the unseasonably hot November day.

“They didn’t give you a price?” Encinas asked.“No, they didn’t have one,” the man […]

Inequality gone viral: The obscene numbers

Inequality gone viral: The obscene numbers

In a distressing analogy to the relentless surge of Covid-19, which has disproportionately impacted low-income communities and people of color, there has been an unstoppable transfer of wealth from desperate Americans to the people who already had most of our nation’s financial assets.

While the great majority of us have been focusing on the health and well-being—and the very survival —of loved ones, the super-rich have become “pandemic profiteers,” isolating themselves from Covid while riding the stock market to its highest-ever level. At the same time we are seeing a dramatic demonstration of Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine , with the […]