Universal basic income is an old idea — as early as the 15th century, Thomas More suggested that a minimum income would prevent theft and moral rotting.

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This idea has been discussed and researched by academics, social scientists and economists ever since, but the revival of UBI happened in the past few years with organizations such as YCombinator advocating for it and countries worldwide pushing it to the top of the agenda.

The idea has received criticism, as well. Economist John Kay believes UBI model is unsustainable; he also finds that the hype draws attention away from the conversation about welfare reforms necessary for the evolving economy.

In the most recent episode of Exponential View podcast, I discuss with Scott Santens the proposal of “citizens’ salary” as a necessary measure for our societies to deal with technological unemployment.

Scott is a writer and an advocate for universal basic income. His articles have been featured in TechCrunch, Boston Globe, and Politico, among others.

Scott coauthored two books: “What Do We Do About Inequality?” and “Surviving the Machine Age: Intelligent Technology and the Transformation of Human Work”. He moderates /r/BasicIncome community on Reddit.