There have been repeated discussions about the role of automation in capitalist economies, especially as it affects the nature and availability of employment. On Saturday 13 February Geoff Crocker spoke to London Futurists about the impacts of automation to date and the potential impact on the economy and work in future. While it seems fairly clear that automation is here to stay – and has only accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic – Crocker argues that this does not need to be deleterious to society, given the right approach to a basic income.
2020 saw US Democratic candidate Andrew Yang campaigning for a basic income and pressure on the European Commission, so this is an issue which is unlikely to disappear for the foreseeable future. Is it credible to believe that later in the decade we will see a basic income being initiated somewhere in the world on a large scale?
While there was a significant amount of discussion, the key argument in this video falls between 6:46 and 35:50
