Scott Santens
Writer and full-time advocate of unconditional basic income (UBI); Citizen of Earth and New Orleans; Bachelor of Science in Psychology; Editor of Basic Income Today
Basic Income as Liquid Infrastructure: The Bruce Lee Argument for UBI
"Be formless, shapeless, like water..."
"Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” - Bruce Lee
When most people hear Bruce Lee's words about the . . .
An Engineering Argument for Basic Income
Utilizing fault-tolerant design in critical life support systems
This post is also available in Spanish.
Before studying engineering, if someone asked me what 1+1 is, I would have said "2." Now, I'd say "I'm pretty sure it's 2, but we'd better make it 3 just to be safe."
I originally went to college at the Colorado School of Mines to . . .
Posted in: analogypovertysecurityself-employmentsocial securitysystems thinkingtechnological unemploymentunderemployment
The Monsters, Inc. Argument for Unconditional Basic Income
How to convert an economy based on fear to one based on joy
Every year since 2002, there is a North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress held in either the US or Canada. On the eve of this year’s NABIG in Hamilton, Ontario, I’d like to share with you my favorite presentation from 2017. It was a talk given by Ken Burak and it centered around the Pixar film “Monsters, Inc” as an argument for basic . . .
Posted in: analogybullshit jobschild povertyfearmoral argumentmotivationphilosophypovertyprivate propertyproductivityslaveryunpaid laborvoluntary labor
Olympians and the Great Myth of Meritocracy
Our playing fields aren't level but they can be more level with basic income
The Olympics provides a great opportunity to take a closer look at the popular myth of meritocracy, where winners come out on top thanks to hard work and losers simply just weren’t good enough. That the discussion during this most recent Olympics has been centered so much around performance-enhancing drugs really drives this point home in a . . .
Posted in: analogybiologydrug useinequality
A Game of Musical Chairs Over Hot Coals
An analogy about employment and basic income
There's a common belief that people who don't have jobs somehow just aren't trying hard enough, and this belief is therefore based on the idea that there are enough jobs for everyone. To get a job, all one really needs to do is just try hard enough.
"Just go get a job."
The Harsh Reality of . . .
Do We Have Enough Space Bucks?
The question of money itself in the discussion for basic income
Possibly the most frequently asked question of all by those newly introduced to the idea of a truly universal and unconditional basic income is essentially:
That sounds way too expensive... Can we actually afford such an idea?
Now, others have responded to this question conceptually, and I've even recently . . .
Posted in: analogymoneysouth park
The Water Room Analogy
Why giving basic income to even the richest makes sense
"You want to even give basic income to the rich?! That doesn't make any sense at all because they don't need it, it'll cost more, and you'll be taxing them only to give it back to them."
This a common response to the idea of providing everyone an unconditional basic income. Yes, everyone. That . . .
Posted in: analogy
