Why Silicon Valley is Embracing Universal Basic Income

Source: Jathan Sadowski
Affiliation: The Guardian

This article describes how Universal Basic Income (UBI) works, and how it fits into Silicon Valley’s agenda. While some critics say that UBI give tech companies a way to automate away jobs without guilt, Silicon Valley techies argue that UBI is more like venture capital for people, giving people the freedom to embrace their inner entrepreneur without having to worry about any financial ramifications. The author argues that the version of UBI being promoted right now still leaves the poorer classes with less, and that UBI should be used in tandem with other social programs that boost the poor. When UBI is used only as a way of making techno-capitalism more palatable, it simply masks the symptoms of economic injustice without treating the root causes.

Keywords: Automation , Computer Science , Tech Ethics , Tech Industry , Universal Basic Income