[P2P-F] NEW FROM VERSO: INVENTING THE FUTURE BY NICK SRNICEK AND ALEX WILLIAMS

Mon Nov 2 10:19:06 CET 2015

This book offers the framework of building a campaign strategy around the demand for full automation and a basic income for all. This is not a short term demand but a vision of what can be achieved if labour groups come together with academics and supporters to design the future. 

Personally I believe they have drawn the supporting network too narrowly. But that only makes the case for this campaign even more strongly. I wrote some time ago:

BIG (basic income guaranteed) may be revolutionary, but it does not need the economic system to change drastically in order to be introduced. In that sense it is reformist, although the effects are revolutionary. 
The big advantages are that 
1. it can be introduced without massive changes to the economic system. 
2. It is a very simple idea which can be appreciated by people without much knowledge of the economy.
3. It has been tried in pilot experiments, and found to be successful in stimulating economic activity. (Brazil)
4. Many economists agree (James Robertson, Jeremy Rifkin, Edward Snowden, Richard Swift) that with technology replacing many jobs that previously required human labour, BIG of some sort is necessary.
5. Naomi Klein highlights it in her latest book This Changes Everything, as one of the game changing battles that 'don't merely aim to change laws, but changes patterns of thought.'(p 641)

The authors are coming to Leeds for an open discussion on Nov 14.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1624336424483090/

I believe that this campaign could appeal widely across all political spectrums, and would welcome more discussion on this list.

Anna
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