Author: automata

Can a basic income help Thunder Bay residents struggling with a changing economy?

Can a basic income help Thunder Bay residents struggling with a changing economy?

Thunder Bay will be a testing ground for whether Ontario should undertake a dramatic social assistance reform. (Paul Chiasson/CP) Thunder Bay residents are eagerly awaiting this week’s announcement of how the provincial government will roll out the Basic Income Pilot Project in their community.

On April 24, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced that 4,000 people — in the Hamilton area (which includes Brantford and Brant County), Lindsay, and Thunder Bay — will participate in the first basic income study undertaken by a Canadian government since the Dauphin, Manitoba, experiment finished in 1979.

Under the terms of the pilot, people with low incomes […]

Buffett: ‘Economy Is Doing Well, but All Americans Aren’t Doing Well’

Buffett: 'Economy Is Doing Well, but All Americans Aren't Doing Well'

Investment guru Warren Buffett sees wealth inequality as the most serious problem in the country: "a prosperity that’s been disproportionately rewarding to the people on top,"

"The real problem, in my view, is — this has been — the prosperity has been unbelievable for the extremely rich people," Buffett said Monday during an interview with PBS NewsHour.

With a net worth of more than $75 billion, Buffett is currently the second richest man alive, according to Forbes. "If you go to 1982, when Forbes put on their first 400 list, those people had [a total of] $93 billion. They now […]

Basic Income Blues June 2017

Inspired by the North American Basic Income
Guarantee Congress NYC JUNE 2017

I’ve got the Basic Income Blues….
Because in my heart I believe all need to feel secure, to have enough to eat, to live, just to be, Because in my soul, (whatever that is), I feel that BIG is a chance to live with hope, able to “speak our own truths” — without so much fear of poverty, violence, homelessness, and distain. Because, in my head, I know it’s possible — we can get a BIG, IF w e work together, led by those who need […]

Laois housing crisis has caused a ‘black market’ for renters

Laois housing crisis has caused a 'black market' for renters

Laois renters are being forced to top up rent supplement payments to keep a roof over their heads says councillor By Lynda Kiernan lynda.kiernan@leinsterexpress.ie@laoisnews

The housing crisis in Laois has caused a “black market” with families forced to top up council rent supplements to stay in their homes.

So claimed Laois Fianna Fáil councillor Paschal McEvoy at this week’s council meeting, where Housing Director Gerry Murphy laid out the case for a cap on rent hikes. Mr Murphy is to make a formal request for parts of Laois to be included in Rent Pressure Zoning, to the Housing Agency.“There is so […]

How will an universal basic income change the way Americans work?

How will an universal basic income change the way Americans work?

The answer is pretty straightforward. Only an ever decreasing fraction of human workers going forward will be highly economically productive. This fact is independent of whether or not Universal Basic income – Wikipedia is implemented. This is pretty obvious from observing Silicon Valley – Wikipedia where the most highly valued successful companies focus on employee productivity, intentionally not hiring more human workers and instead only hiring the absolute best human workers. The average human workers simply is not valuable enough to contribute meaningfully to the required innovation that is Silicon Valley – Wikipedia .

Universal Basic income – Wikipedia […]

North German state weighs up introducing unconditional basic income

North German state weighs up introducing unconditional basic income

Robert Habeck. Photo: DPA Schleswig-Holstein’s new state government is considering a project to bring in an unconditional basic income. But the plans aren’t quite as advanced as some media outlets suggest.

The Flensburger Tageblatt (FT) first reported on Monday that the the new government in Germany’s northernmost state was dead set on testing out the controversial form of social security, whereby every citizen receives a flat monthly sum of money from the state regardless of whether they are employed or not.

“As a government we want to test out the unconditional basic income and make Schleswig-Holstein a model region,” the […]

Nearly half of office workers believe automation will have a positive impact on their organisation

Nearly half of office workers believe automation will have a positive impact on their organisation

Research findings revealed today show that nearly half of UK office workers are optimistic about the impact automation technologies will have on the workplace of the future.

However, the cost of implementation and lack of infrastructure are big barriers to adoption for UK businesses.

A survey over 1,000 UK office workers was carried out to explore their attitudes and expectations of cutting-edge technologies including automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning. It found that 40 per cent of respondents believe machine learning will have a potentially positive impact in the workplace along with robotics. Only 10 per […]

Billionaire Warren Buffett says ‘the real problem’ with the US economy is people like him

Billionaire Warren Buffett says 'the real problem' with the US economy is people like him

Warren Buffett says people like him are the problem with the U.S. economy.

With a net worth of more than $75 billion , Buffett is currently the second richest man alive , according to Forbes. As the CEO of investing house Berkshire Hathaway , he is hallowed as the Oracle of Omaha. But for all his personal success, Buffett says the issue really is the 1 percent.

"The real problem, in my view, is — this has been — the prosperity has been unbelievable for the extremely rich people," says Buffett on PBS Newshour ."If you go to 1982, when Forbes […]

Is Universal Basic Income a Solution to Tech Unemployment?

This spring, the Canadian province of Ontario announced that about 4,000 of its citizens will receive money as part of their “no strings attached” basic income experiment. The goal is to explore how universal basic income can improve both the lives of the individuals receiving it and the nation at large.

This isn’t the first time someone started giving away free money and studied its effects. Historically, many organizations and government bodies have run some sort of universal basic income experiment on a small scale, and their outcomes have been notably positive.

Over the next few decades, as technological automation takes […]

What Will It Mean to Be Human in the Age of Robots?

The newest exhibit at the Science Museum of London demonstrates the 500-year development of humanoid robots. In an interview with C. M. Rubin (Founder of CMRubinWorld and author of The Global Search for Education), Ling Lee explains what the newest tech advances mean for the future of education, the job market, and the self-perception of humankind.

While the future will see robots taking over most low-skilled jobs, Lee believes shifts in educational policies will enable humans to remain competitive. "Yes, some jobs will be given to humanoid robots" but "progress will march relentlessly on, so maybe a better question might […]