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
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
My Unconditional Basic Income Testimony for Maryland's House Ways and Means Committee
As submitted for the public record on March 1, 2019
Click here to optionally listen instead of read this post.
In mid-February I was contacted by the legislative aide for Delegate Gabriel Acevero of Maryland who has introduced a bill to create a social wealth fund intended to eventually pay out a cash dividend to every resident of Maryland. As a prominent advocate for UBI, I . . .
Posted in: activismautomationcash transferschild povertydividendspartial basic incomepovertytechnological unemploymentunderemployment
"The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct, and immediate abolition of poverty." — Martin Luther King Jr.
About MLK's advocacy for basic income
It is not as widely known as it should be, but Martin Luther King Jr. wrote and spoke about the need for an unconditional basic income before he was killed. Here is a video of him speaking about UBI at Stanford in 1967.
One of the answers it seems to me, is a guaranteed annual income, a guaranteed minimum income for . . .
New on Medium: It’s Time for Technology to Serve all Humankind with Unconditional Basic Income
A speech about UBI
I've just published over on Medium "It’s Time for Technology to Serve all Humankind with Unconditional Basic Income". It's actually the text of the speech I wrote for my keynote at Oredev last November in Sweden.
Because this speech was meant to be heard, I've recorded myself reading it aloud so that an audio . . .
Here's what I said about automated vehicles and basic income at the House of Commons of Canada
Recorded on March 28, 2018
Below is the audio and text of the short speech I delivered to the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities at the Canadian House of Commons on March 28, 2018 as an expert called to answer questions as part of a big study they are doing on Automated and Connected Vehicles in Canada.
In 2014, I went on . . .
The Expanse's Basic Support vs. Basic Income
How not to meet humanity's basic needs in our automated future
The Expanse is a series of science fiction novels that is also now a TV series with two seasons available to watch so far. In this universe, in the not too distant future, humanity has moved beyond Earth to extend its reach throughout the entire solar system. Mars is an independent military power, asteroids and various moons . . .
Posted in: technological unemployment
Basic Income is JUST Compensation
Recognizing what we owe each other
Let's say the cost to produce a widget is $1. What's the cost to produce 1 million widgets?
This may sound like an extremely simple word problem that even some preschoolers could solve. However, if you think the answer is $1 million, you would be entirely wrong.
The cost to produce 1 million widgets is far below $1 . . .
