tl;dr 01: Automation & Universal Basic Income

tl:dr: Robots will one day replace many of our jobs - to compensate, some people propose universal income as an alternative to jobs, and as as path to freedom & creative power. Other people are against universal income because it would cost a lot, raise taxes, and others - because they don’t believe robots will actually take away jobs.  

Are robots, AI, and automation real?:

Doomsday Invention - The New Yorker

How Technology is destroying jobs - MIT Technology review

What jobs will be automated? :

Automation & Anxiety - The Economist

Linking automation & UBI:

A plan in case the jobs die out - New York tIMES

Is Finland’s basic universal income a solution to automation, fewer jobs and lower wages? - The Guardian

UBI in action: 

The future of not working - New York Times

Anti Universal Income: 

Basic Income, A sellout of the American Dream - MIT Technology review

Podcast:

Universal Income: Has its time come? BBC

On community/ digital communities

This weekend I spent some good time in San Francisco with people outside of the tech community - an architect, a person working in non-profit for performing arts, and a programmer and engineer. For me, I always feel conflicted even visiting San Francisco because there is so much tension in the community, most of which is directly caused by the tech companies here. It was interesting listening to how they take part in the community from their different perspectives, and it made me question how I think about communities, the value they provide and the variations they might have. 

While I would be interested in doing more community based work, I think my heart still lives in the digital because I still believe that it can allow you to create communities outside of your immediate circumstances. I have always been interested in digital communities because they give a space for people who do not find a safe or welcoming community in their physical environment. These people and perhaps, mostly youths, can turn to digital communities or in the past media, pop culture, books, etc, to find a comfortable place and in the digital space, even other people to share experiences with. When speaking of digital communities, a few key examples come to mind: Tumblr, Reddit, Twitter, but also many smaller sites and blogs. I don’t include Facebook in this category as that forms a network based on your physical community, and so does not necessarily provide an outlet or alternative to your “reality”. 

Going forward, it would be important to understand how communities are formed and what qualities or characteristics people look for in communities. Additionally, how digital communities affect the quality of life of people in the physical world. 

Thoughts on Citymapper from UX Designer

I don’t live in a cool enough city to get to use Citymapper, but that hasn’t stopped me from being a fangirl from afar. 

Till the day comes where I am in a different city and using Citymapper on the daily, here are some thoughts from the perspective of a product & ux designer, and not as a regular user. 

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