Main Blog Page

Silicon Valley, automation and universal basic income; what to do to stay one step ahead of the robots?

Silicon Valley, automation and universal basic income; what to do to stay one step ahead of the robots?

As more and more reports about automation making human jobs vanish continue, more and more serious players of the silicon valley are saying that the only recourse humanity may have is universal basic income (UBI).

Elon Musk has already addressed the question in an interview and he feels we simply won’t have any choice.”There is a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income, or something like that, due to automation…Yeah, I am not sure what else one would do. I think that is what would happen,” Musk said in an interview with CNBC.

However, this Thursday, the […]

Facebook Co-Founder Wants Basic Income Before Robot Takeover

Facebook Co-Founder Wants Basic Income Before Robot Takeover

Automation is coming after manufacturing jobs, and a new project thinks it may have the answer. The Economic Security Project, announced Thursday, wants to explore a universal basic income (UBI), something it believes could help with the coming economic shift as skilled labor is replaced by machines. The project has a number of notable founding signatories, including Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, Y Combinator president Sam Altman, and Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza.

“In a time of immense wealth, no one should live in poverty, nor should the middle class be consigned to a future of permanent stagnation or anxiety,” […]

Amazon Go will change the face of shopping — again

Amazon Go will change the face of shopping — again

Amazon is at it again. Having turned the world of shopping on its head with its “ everything store ” for more than two decades, the company is now looking to disrupt offline retail too — by using advanced technology to remove the need for staff in our shops and stores.

Amazon Go is the latest moonshot from the company which is already experimenting with drone deliveries , instant ordering at the push of a button and a drive-through grocery store .

The new concept, announced this week and opening as a real shop in early 2017, will see shoppers […]

At Boeing’s 777X wing factory, robots get big jobs

At Boeing's 777X wing factory, robots get big jobs

As the first 110-footlong wing skin panel for Boeing’s new 777X jet moved slowly across a mammoth new factory building one recent morning, a small crew walked alongside, watching for any possibility of an expensive collision.

The "spotters" escorted the panel’s bright-orange transport platform as it followed invisible tracks embedded in the concrete floor and slid with a tight fit into the big cylindrical autoclave where the part would bake to hardness.

Until the automated system for moving these big wing parts is proved, "we do have four people watching it," said Darrell Chic, acting director of 777X wing fabrication. "But […]

The robots are coming, the robots are coming… Is now the time to start talking seriously about universal basic income?

The robots are coming, the robots are coming… Is now the time to start talking seriously about universal basic income?

It seems like we might have turned a corner today relative to universal basic income . Or at least that’s the sense that I get as I’m sitting here in bed, scrolling through today’s headlines. I mean, it’s something that we’ve been discussing for a while, but it seems like it’s everywhere today, which is odd, given how few non-Trump-related news stories break though these days. For some reason, though, the idea of universal basic income is everywhere today.

I think it must just be one of those “perfect storm” kind of things, with tech entrepreneur Elon Musk responding to […]

Check out automation’s impact on retail business and jobs

Check out automation's impact on retail business and jobs

Have you watched that new video of Amazon Go, the store in test mode in Seattle where you just pick up stuff (prepared food and drinks, mostly) and walk out? I have, again and again. It’s pretty hypnotic, especially with the sound off.

The gist of it is that you scan in with an app on your phone as you walk into the store, grab whatever you want — and leave. "Computer vision," "deep learning algorithms" and "sensor fusion" figure out what you’ve taken and charge you for it.

As lots of people have been pointing out on Twitter, this is […]

Another Canadian Province to Implement Universal Basic Income

Another Canadian Province to Implement Universal Basic Income

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a form of social security in which every citizen is afforded an unconditional sum of money, typically enough to provide themselves with basic needs. Proponents argue that it would eliminate poverty, increase economic growth, and reduce the bureaucracy of welfare systems. Critics claim UBI would decrease labor participation and cause major inflation.

As labor forces are threatened by mass unemployment as a result of increasing mechanization, many first-world nations have begun to flirt with the implementation of UBI. Tesla Motors CEO and futurism icon Elon Musk told CNBC in a November 2016 interview that there […]

Facebook cofounder, other technologists, pledge universal basic income research

Facebook cofounder, other technologists, pledge universal basic income research

Pink piggy bank standing on a wood table with one dollar bills. Amazon stores won’t need cashiers. Uber cars won’t require drivers. It’s a new economy where many human jobs vanish. And some say the solution may be a universal basic income.

On Thursday, the Economic Security Project, a research alliance of technologists and activists, announced a $10 million fund to study universal basic income over the next two years, Quartz reported .

Universal basic income provides every citizen with a standard set of money no matter their employment status. Research on the topic is sparse and so it remains to […]

This Radical Tactic Might Be the Solution to Unemployment

This Radical Tactic Might Be the Solution to Unemployment

The Problem: Robots

While some Americans lament the outsourcing of jobs to other countries, they may be ignoring the real threat: robots. Technology and artificial intelligence have advanced so much that many traditionally human-held jobs are now performed by robots and this trend toward automation is only gaining strength. Thus, human workers are gradually becoming obsolete, including those with roles like restaurant workers and truck drivers . The Proposal: Universal Basic Income

Automation has already caused an increase in unemployment, as the number of jobs available to humans simply diminishes. So, what’s the solution? According to Elon Musk , […]

Take basic income and short working week seriously, Greens think-tank urges

Take basic income and short working week seriously, Greens think-tank urges

The Greens Institute said it remained agnostic on whether a universal basic income was right for Australia, but the conversation needed to be had. Photograph: Alamy The rise of contract and casual work means a shorter working week and universal basic income should become serious policy options, the Green Institute says.

The institute ’s report Can Less Work be More Fair ? said the loss of permanent full-time jobs in areas as diverse as cleaning services and academia was making work highly precarious and increasing the divide between those who were overworked and those who were underemployed.

Tim Hollo, the Green […]