Main Blog Page

Automation can make life better – and worse

Automation can make life better – and worse

The other day I was shopping at a large retail store with a shopping cart full of groceries and other items for the house and yard.

I had too many items for the express lane, but with only four other checkout lanes open, I was tempted to try it anyway.

Instead, I was steered toward the dreaded self-checkout area, which really doesn’t have enough room for everyone trying to use the registers there.I don’t mind checking out my own things – it can be quite convenient when you have only a few items. If you have a lot, it’s not so […]

Explore Elon Musk, Economics, and more!

Explore Elon Musk, Economics, and more!

Elon Musk Economics National Geographic What Is Castle Internet Automated Economy Explained: Mechanics of a Basic Income See More Elon Musk World Government The Challenge Artificial Intelligence The Future To Share Robots The Next Challenges Elon Musk believes artificial intelligence that is much smarter than the smartest human on Earth could result in dangerous situations. Musk argues that the government must introduce a universal basic income program in order to compensate for automation. You Want A Basic Income? Here’s How We Might Actually Do It Prince Edward Island Bill Gates World Economic Forum Cool Stuff Bill O’brien Isn Roots […]

“Universal Basic Income” Explored in Hawaiʻi

“Universal Basic Income” Explored in Hawaiʻi

A bill that that was passed in the Hawaiʻi legislature this session is among the first in the nation to explore the concept of universal basic income.

There’s been other places internationally that have experimented with the idea like Europe, Uganda and the Canadian province of Ontario, but the concept is fairly new in the US and is considered uncharted territory with the exception of a pilot program in Oakland, CA. Honolulu resident, Pierre Omidyar, the billionaire co-founder of eBay, is also providing the financial backing for a program in Kenya .

Ending Extreme Financial Poverty, Creating and Equitable Future: […]

A guaranteed income

A guaranteed income “is part of the answer,” Lockwood says. “When automation or globalization makes skills obsolete, a safety net can be very helpful. Right now, many displaced workers take early retirement, some turn to disability insurance. Guerrero wanted his presidency to reflect the broad coalition built during the 1810 war. He allowed political centrists and conservatives to dominate his cabinet, and he accepted as Vice President Anastacio Bustamante who had spent most of the independence war in the uniform of Spain. Left wing supporters of Guerrero criticized the president’s cabinet and other choices, and in the manner that […]

Universal Basic Income and the End of Poverty

"Rapid technological change has been destroying jobs at a greater rate than it is creating, but almost no one is aware."
-Andrew McAfee The robotization of jobs and the advance of artificial intelligence (AI) has alerted the societies of industrialized countries before the imminent disappearance of millions of jobs. However, in the peripheral countries, the political class, opinion makers, and lobbyists seem to ignore what Industry 4.0 or the fourth industrial revolution actually implies for our people.

It is understood as First Industrial Revolution to the period that goes from the mid-eighteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century. […]

How an expert believes robots could influence the future of Wales

How an expert believes robots could influence the future of Wales

An example of a robot which could potentially perform surgery For many decades there has been an assumption that globalisation is inevitable and unstoppable.

The world is going to continue to be more connected and products will have gone round the world before they reach the consumer.

The move to manufacture goods cheaply abroad, particularly in China, has had a devastating impact upon industrial communities in the UK and Wales has felt the sharp end of that trend.But there is a growing school of thought that globalisation in manufacturing, the trend of outsourcing production , may be coming to an end.The […]

Mark Zuckerberg Impressed By Alaska’s Basic Income Program

Mark Zuckerberg Impressed By Alaska’s Basic Income Program

Anchorage, Alaska.Frank K./Wikimedia Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg recently went to Alaska as part of his personal goal for 2017 of visiting all 50 US states. Upon leaving, it would seem that the tech figure came away impressed by the social programs that the state has initiated. He was particularly impressed by the Basic Income Program of Alaska, which provided the state’s citizens with annual allowance money.

The tech billionaire wrote about his experience in the frozen lands on his Facebook page , explaining what he and his wife Priscilla Chan had seen and heard during their visit. According to the […]

Mr. Zuckerberg, please don’t run for president: The last thing America needs is a Facebook technocrat

Mr. Zuckerberg, please don’t run for president: The last thing America needs is a Facebook technocrat

It’s becoming evident that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is either running for office or pretending like it. The boy-CEO spent the past few months touring the United States on a great American road trip, visiting churches and rehab centers, and generally mingling among the hoi polloi . “As I’ve traveled around, I’ve sat with children in juvenile detention and opioid addicts, who told me their lives could have turned out differently if they just had something to do, an after-school program or somewhere to go … I’ve met factory workers who know their old jobs aren’t coming back and […]

America’s Grenfell: Slow death of the poor

America's Grenfell: Slow death of the poor

Monument to cost-cutting The high rises in Britain to burn in the past 20 years — Garnock Court in Scotland, and Lakenal House and Grenfell Tower in England — happen to be places where poor people lived. Whether in the U.K. or the U.S., chances to make money abound from making poor people’s lives more dangerous.

We mostly grow used to the poor dying around us. Every so often though, the deaths of poor people happen in horrific fashion, such as last month at Grenfell Tower, where an estimated 80 residents of that housing project died. The images of Grenfell […]

Universal basic income discussion

Universal basic income discussion

I have what I feel to be a broadly unique perspective regarding this topic. I am a 16 year machinist by trade and hobby. No, we are not mechanics. The machinist career involves using machines to make precision parts that a customer has ordered which require a very tight manufacturing tolerance.

There are currently two fundamental approaches to machining a precision part. The first is conventional, meaning the person using the cutting tool operates it with a compliment of dials and levers. The second is CNC (computer numeric control) in which someone (usually) programs the machine to do work that […]