A warning from Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Stephen Hawking
By: Quincy Larson February 19, 2017 “The automation of factories has already decimated jobs in traditional manufacturing, and the rise of artificial intelligence is likely to extend this job destruction deep into the middle classes, with only the most caring, creative or supervisory roles remaining.” — Stephen Hawking There’s a rising chorus of concern about […]
This company replaced 90% of its workforce with machines. Here’s what happened
By: June Javelosa, Kristin Houser February 15, 2017 The rise of the robot workforce It’s hard to argue against automation when statistics are clearly illustrating its potential. The latest evidence comes out of a Chinese factory in Dongguan City. The factory recently replaced 90 percent of its human workforce with machines, and it led to […]
Basic income pilot in Kenya to receive up to $493,000 from eBay founder’s firm
By: Kate McFarland February 11, 2017 In the largest and longest-running basic income trial to date, GiveDirectly will provide unconditional cash transfers to the residents of 200 villages in rural Kenya (about 26,000 people in total). The residents of 40 of these villages (about 6,000 people) will receive monthly payments for 12 years. At about […]
Does the Sharing Economy Increase Inequality Within the Eighty Percent?: Findings from a Qualitative Study of Platform Providers
By: Boston College February 10, 2017 Abstract: The sharing economy has generated controversy for its effects on labor conditions, wages and the distributions of income and wealth. In this paper we present evidence for a previously unrecognized effect: increased income inequality among the bottom 80% of the distribution. On the basis of interviews with U.S. providers on three for-profit […]
Ebay founder backs tests to give people free money
By: Patrick Kulp February 9, 2017 The idea of a universal basic income has found growing support in Silicon Valley as robots threaten to radically change the nature of work. Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar is the latest tech bigwig to get behind the concept. His philanthropic investment firm, the Omidyar Network, announced Wednesday that it […]
Why We Invested: GiveDirectly
By: Mike Kubzansky, Tracy Williams February 7, 2017 Omidyar Network’s foundational belief that empowering people frees them to better themselves, their families, and their communities has great evidence in the growing literature around the benefits of cash transfers. In these programs, low income individuals who receive cash benefits achieve remarkable outcomes in country after country: […]
The First Blockchain-Based Universal Basic Income Experiment Just Launched
By: Dom Galeon February 7, 2017 A New UBI With the growing popularity of blockchains, it’s no surprise that they have a new, very useful application, i.e. a global distribution of wealth. Recently, the Grantcoin Foundation, a U.S. based nonprofit organization, implemented a universal basic income (UBI) program that uses blockchain-based digital currency. Basic Income […]
How Automation is Going to Redefine What it Means to Work
By: Scott Santens January 24, 2017 On December 2nd, 1942, a team of scientists led by Enrico Fermi came back from lunch and watched as humanity created the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction inside a pile of bricks and wood underneath a football field at the University of Chicago. Known to history as Chicago Pile-1, it […]
Shaping the Future of Retail for Consumer Industries
By: World Economic Forum January 4, 2017 The next decade is expected to be the golden age of the consumer, with shoppers having more choices and control than ever before. They will be presented with a growing array of products and services, often personalized to their specific needs and wants. Consumers will continue to demand […]