As college students, I think politics is often something we tend to put farther into the purview, in many cases even completely neglecting in favor of focusing on things we feel are more pertinent to daily life. With midterms and finals, problem sets and homework labs, maybe even adding on a social life for the enterprising or ambitious, it truly is the case that often there just isn’t enough time in the day to be able to juggle everything in addition to adding politics into the fray. I completely understand the sentiment, and as someone who has historically tended to stray away from anything political in nature in favor of focusing on other things, I thought it was important enough to take a step outside my normal postings today to speak on an issue which I believe is deeply vital to the continued well-being and future of our society.

At one of the epicenters of technological development and growth, here at UC Berkeley, I think it’s quite plain to see the massive impact that technology is producing. With such dramatic shifts set to occur in the coming few years, as the pace of automation increases exponentially, many people are fearful of the changes that will occur, afraid of what will happen to them and if they will be left behind as a result. And justly so, because though I do believe technology is at its heart fundamentally a wholly neutral force multiplier, equally capable of both great good and bad, it’s by the hands of people that the outcome is ultimately determined.

With growing wealth inequality and class divide, it’s becoming increasingly evident that the changes we’re experiencing are quickly resulting in the creation of a lower class with little ability to transition and integrate into society as technology turns employment previously available obsolete and new jobs created too difficult or niche to achieve. It’s nice to think about those who are displaced being able to re-educate and find new lines of work when their jobs disappear, and completely another thing in reality to expect the 50 year old truck driver who’s lost their job due to self-driving to go back to school full time for multiple years while having no access to any kind of continued stable income in order to learn computer science and become a software engineer.

Technology has the opportunity to change so many lives for the better from curing diseases, enabling sources of cleaner energy, improving means of transportation, to just making resources in general cheaper and more accessible for everyone. But if we don’t start taking actionable steps right now, huge swathes of people will soon be left behind in the very near future. That's why I felt the need to write this post today to talk about a presidential candidate running for the 2020 elections called Andrew Yang whose primary platform is based around the implementation of a universal basic income of a flat $1,000/month stipend that I believe would be a tremendous step in the right direction to ensuring and continuing our progress towards a brighter future not just for the small minority that manage to make their way into and take ownership of future technological advances, but for the majority as well. If you’re at all interested, I highly recommend taking a further look at (https://www.yang2020.com) for a more detailed outline/proposal on Andrew Yang’s platform and ideals. And please, don't just take my word for it. Do your own research. Come up with your own opinions. And most importantly, regardless of who you ultimately choose, go out and VOTE when the time comes next year!

I wholeheartedly believe that a brighter future is possible, with technology in fact being a major contributor to achieving such a thing, but at the end of the day, it’s up to us to decide whether we get it or not. Whether you agree or disagree, if you have any personal thoughts or opinions on this matter, I’d love to hear what you have to say below.

[As a disclaimer, I'd like to make clear that I express only my personal thoughts here and make no claim to representing anyone else's viewpoints/ideas in this post]