Unpacking the fourth industrial revolution and why basic income is an urgent response. (Video below)
Dear UBI activists,
I want to share with you a speech by Mark Carney — former governor of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England — that has served as major validation of our mission here at UBI Works.
In 2018, Carney gave a keynote speech at the Public Policy Forum, a leading Canadian public policy think tank, where he talked about the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the massive disruption it has caused our economy and our workers.
While Mark Carney did not mention basic income as a solution — as bank governor, he could not get involved in politics — he did layout the technological and economic case for basic income and spoke about new forms of income security needed in response.
His keynote showed how technology has decimated workers’ share of income, increasing poverty, job polarization, and underemployment. He shows definitively that the middle class is being hollowed out and replaced with more lower-skill jobs. Meanwhile, economic productivity continues to rise, but the gains are not enjoyed by most people.
In essence, he confirmed the very reasons we need UBI.
Any large technological period of technological change, mercilessly destroys jobs and livelihoods and therefore identities…real wage is flat for an uncomfortably long period after productivity really surges.
Big picture: labour share coming down… substantial evidence of job polarization. Much more job growth at lower skill end and the higher skill end. The middle [is] being hollowed out.
— Excerpt from Mark Carney’s 2018 Keynote
The same year Carney gave this speech, I founded UBI Works in order to spread these narratives with Canadian politicians and activists like you. We believe that basic income is how we can address these challenges and create a truly human-centred economy, and so we embarked on a mission to make it a national election issue.
Below, you’ll find a video commentary I recorded in response to Carney’s keynote, showing how the technological and economic trends he talks about all point to the need for basic income.
I’m sharing this with you and inviting you to join me in further developing this content by giving feedback and asking questions. What are your thoughts on Carney’s keynote or my response? Is there anything you think I missed that could bolster the narrative?
Until now, there has not been a definitive explanation of the Fourth Industrial Revolution from someone of Mark Carney’s credibility in Canada, so we saw this as a key opportunity to produce this training material for future activists and politicians. With your input, we can evolve this into a learning guide that can help them campaign on basic income with the best possible talking points and evidence.
Viewing and commenting on the video
In addition to the Youtube video above, I transcribed this video using an A.I. tool called Descript, which allows you to add your comments directly to any part of the video transcript.
See the transcription and add your comments here: See full video transcription.
- Playing the recording is as easy as clicking on any word and hitting spacebar or the play button (triangle) at the top of the Descript window.
2. Highlight any text to see a ‘Comment’ box show up. Click that to leave a comment.
3. You’ll need to sign in (can do so via Google) in order to comment. It takes a few seconds.
4. If you wish to see the video alongside the Descript transcription, you’ll need to download the app from https://www.descript.com/download/ (available for Windows & Mac). If using a browser, you’ll be able to hear the audio, read the transcript, and comment, without the video.
If you don’t want to use the transcription, you can watch the Youtube version here instead and email your comments to me at floyd@ubiworks.ca or leave your comments directly below.
Please join me on this narrative development. I look forward to your input.
Floyd Marinescu
Founder of UBI Works
More from UBI Works:
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