Dystopian or utopian — which AI future is coming our way? As an avid consumer of science fiction in my youth, and, truth be told, still an avid reader, the genre is rife with both sides: the Skynet apocalypse or the more benign futures of Isaac Asimov’s robot series. Yet today we are deluged with […]
Category: UBI
In late November 2025, the Republic of the Marshall Islands quietly made history. Every resident citizen received a payment — $200, deposited into a bank account, handed over as a paper cheque, or, for a small handful of early adopters, delivered as a stablecoin to a digital wallet. The scheme will pay out roughly $800 […]
I was reading and quietly reflecting on Unconditional versus Universal Basic Income last week while on vacation. It occurred to me that the implicit problems these two programs address are quite distinct — and that examining that distinction is critical to developing clarity about what we want to achieve and the tools to do so. […]
Scott Santens has written a compelling case for universal basic income – subscribe to his Substack! – and I agree with the overarching goal of designing more effective and humane welfare systems. Unconditional cash transfers are central to the dignity and agency of poor households, and the operational case against means-testing — that it excludes […]
My first AI agent