How might universal basic income play out, if we choose to adopt it as a way to restructure our economy and society? Cyberpunk writer, journalist, and killer speech-giver Bruce Sterling dove into some possibilities at the close of this year’s South By Southwest.
The speech begins with a gloomy rumination on the conference, so you can skip ahead to around 25:00 or 26:00 for the possible UBI futures. And no, there’s no transcript available yet:
https://soundcloud.com/officialsxsw/the-future-history-that-hasnt-happened-yet-sxsw-2017
Sterling turns to human history to find ways of structuring a society that pays people not to work. Helpfully he plays them out against the left-right political spectrum. They include:
- a universal academy, where people devote themselves to learning.
- militarization: people serve and receive basic support, which pleases the right wing.
- refugee status, where authorities supply clothing, food, shelter (“universal basic everything”).
- a religious settlement, like living as monks or under sharia
- expanded retirement. “Everyone retires at 40… everyone learns to mimic the elderly.”
- extermination, either First Nations or WWII style.
- “health care uber alles”, a combination of hospitals and spas, focused on preserving and growing wellness. Transhumanism and life extension come in here.
- intentional rural communes, protected from the rest of society.
- urban bohemians. Getting paid to keep cities weird.
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- “Enlightenment” in the Buddhist sense, where people seek religious truth in “a permanent Burning Man”, “a state of general liberation from desire.”
- a combination of religion and army, “all jihad all the time”.
This runs until 45:05 or so. Then Sterling offers the possibility of a historical break, only to discount it, based on what he’s seen from SXSW.
Afterward the speech turns to robots and the judgement of history, with a serious call for a kind of neo-existentialism. That’s powerful stuff.
Jacobin looked at US President Richard Nixon’s support of a Basic Income in 1968, until he turned against it, and why.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/05/richard-nixon-ubi-basic-income-welfare/
Listening to the whole thing — not skipping ahead. The darkness beats platitudes and tunnel vision any day.
I subbed to UBI updates from somewhere else but hadn’t been reading them. Time to revisit them and do another round of collecting. This also reminds me I am behind in re-blogging BA to my precarious faculty network. Time to put a good scare into tunnel visioneers in their silos — or throw them deeper into denial.
Welcome change of pace from higher admin, even that bent techie
PS German pub on Sterling «Google does a lot of weird stuff» Why cyberpunk icon Bruce Sterling believes that what’s happening right now is way scarier than anything in a sci-fi book. https://www.tageswoche.ch/de/2017_7/kultur/742801/
Reblogged this on As the Adjunctiverse Turns and commented:
On BruceSterling imagining the #future & #BasicIncome at #SXSW…not for the faint of heart.
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