You see this little gadget?
Let's call it an "iEverything."
You can't get it yet,
but if technology keeps moving as fast as it is now,
the iEverything will be with us before you know it;
a combination of intelligent computing,
3D manufacturing,
big data crunching,
and advanced biotechnology.
This little machine will be able
to do everything you want
and give you everything you need.
There's only one hitch.
As the economy is now organized,
no one will be able to buy it
because there won't be any paying jobs left.
You see, the iEverything will do...
everything.
I'm exaggerating a bit
in order to make a point about
the trend we're already seeing.
Even now, we're producing more and more
with fewer and fewer people.
Internet sales are on the way
to replacing millions of retail workers.
Diagnostic apps will be replacing
hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers.
Self-driving cars and trucks
will replace five million drivers.
*digital voice* Where would you like to go?
Researchers estimate that almost half
of all U.S. jobs are at risk
of being automated in the next two decades.
Now, this isn't necessarily bad.
The economy we're heading toward
could offer millions of people more free time
to do what they want
instead of what they have to do to earn a living.
But, to make this work,
we'll have to figure out some way to recirculate the money
from the relatively few people
who do very well in the economy of the iEverything
to the rest of us, who will want to buy
the iEverythings.
One possible answer:
a universal basic income,
possibly financed out of
the profits going to labor-replacing innovations.
The idea of a universal basic income historically
has had support from people on both the left
and the right.
In the 1970's, President Nixon
proposed a similar concept for the United States,
and it even passed the House of Representatives.
*President Nixon* I therefore propose
that we abolish the present welfare system,
and a basic federal minimum would be provided.
The idea is getting some traction again.
Some think it could be superior to welfare
or other kinds of public assistance,
because a universal basic income doesn't
tell people what to spend the assistance on.
And everyone qualifies.
In recent years, evidence has shown that
giving people cash
as a way to address poverty
actually works.
In study after study, people
don't stop working, and they don't drink it away,
they actually use it
to increase their earnings.
Interest in a basic income is surging,
with governments debating it from Finland,
to Canada,
to Namibia.
The charity Give Directly
is about to launch a basic income pilot in Kenya.
Providing an income for more than ten years
to some of the poorest and most vulnerable families
on the planet, and then
rigorously evaluate the results.
As new technologies replace work,
the question for the future is
how best to provide economic security for all.
A universal basic income
could be an answer.