A Tale of Two Memes: Abundance vs. Overpopulation (scarcity) via @Livable4All
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SWARMS, ROBOTS AND SHIFTING PARADIGMS
Just the 60s had forward thinking problem-solvers like Theobald and Martin Luther King Jr., today there is a diverse legion of people around the world, many who are anonymous, talking about the need for universal income distribution to rationalize an economy that is clearly in transition.
Swedish Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge in his article on The Swarm Economy: “The job market is never going back to lifetime employments. Industry-critical work such as free software or Wikipedia is not counted as value at all. Today’s economic model has failed at reflecting real value and at promoting industry-critical fundamentals. Job policy and economic policy is based on this faulty model. … One model for the swarm economy could be a basic unconditional income for every citizen.” Falkvinge.net Apr.2011
U.S. futurist James Hughes: “The brief reign of the knowledge worker could soon be over. What if there are no more types of labor accessible to humans that artificial intelligence and robotics cannot do more cheaply and efficiently, with higher quality? Marshall Brain makes a very convincing case that there are very few occupations ultimately exempt from automation. … Jobs will disappear, wages will fall and we will face three choices: Luddism, barbarism or basic income.”
German millionaire Gotz Werner: “For the first time in over 5,000 years of human history, we live with a surplus. But we cannot handle this new reality. We are unable to have everyone profit from and share in it. …we don’t need a right to work, at least not to instructed, social security contributing salary work. It’s no longer up to date. We need a right to income. To an unconditional basic income.”
These are just a few examples of the work/income paradigm minutely shifting. In addition, numerous positive outcomes from a recent Namibian village basic income pilot project revealed assumptions about negative affects to be unfounded.
(See also the draft report on the outcomes of the 1970s Manitoba Mincome; and more news, links and information at: Basic Income Earth Network , BIEN Japan, U.S. B.I.G Network, BIENCanada and Citizen’s Income UK; and links and news page of this website.)
With more people in many countries joining this movement, humanity may be able to transition away from a death-cycle economy to a livable economy, and a livable world.
POINTED STAKES
Two more points to help drive a stake into the Malthus scarcity zombie corpse:
Whenever you hear about the ‘too many people’ problem, keep in mind the reason for its tenacity (in spite of evidence to the contrary):
“the enduring popularity of the overpopulation myth” is due to its “usefulness to the ideological guardians of the establishment.” —Murray Bookchin, Which Way for the Ecology Movement? 1993
And when you get a rash from thinking about: sputter sputter - Giving people money for nothing!! Gasp! - it is because of how we were all raised, by people who still had either direct experience or close second-hand experience with a manual labor and a farm-centric economy. But now our ‘hard work’ moral hang-over is imperiling the planet (e.g. working hard cutting down old growth forests, or selling crap products designed for obsolescence, or selling crap food that ruins people’s (and children’s) health).
“But because of this psychological ‘lag’ many people cannot even understand new ideas presented in the concept of a guaranteed income, because traditional ideas are usually determined by feelings that originated in previous forms of social existence.” —Eric Fromm, The Psychological Aspects of the Guaranteed Income, The Guaranteed Income, edited by Robert Theobald, 1967
….Part II A Tale of Two Memes: Turning Abundance Into Scarcity
Next in this series of 2011 articles will be a look at the roots of how we think about hard work (from traditional male experiences which excludes unpaid work); and how the overpopulation meme is a sneaky way to blame mothers for all the world’s problems.
Al Akhbar | February 20th Movement in Retrospect: The Treacherous Path of Reform
Morocco, like its North African neighbors, has recently seen the rise of a leaderless pro-democracy movement. The February 20th Movement drew on inspirations from movements in Tunisia and Egypt, while adapting its message to the political context of Morocco.
But the path of change took on a more moderate tone. Unlike neighboring pro-democracy movements, the February 20th Movement called for political reforms, not the ousting of the regime. Every Sunday for about eleven months, members of the movement have marched on the streets to put pressure on the Moroccan regime, resulting in a new constitution and parliamentary elections in which the Islamist Party of Justice and Development came to power. The movement’s inclusive nature has drawn a wide array of activists who contribute in different ways to the growth and maturity of a campaign that initially began as a call for protests on Sunday, February 20.
My latest piece for Al Akhbar. A little profile a few Moroccan activists involved in the pro-democracy movement.
Yay! A Moroccan Pirate Party. Its three goals are education, transparency, and rule of law.
(via theamericanbear)
