We all want a fair shake, but when we come together, the power of “one” becomes the strength of “all” – check this out! Plus UBI updates & “good” tech:
If you’re familiar with my work, you’ve likely heard me talk/post a lot about UBI – universal basic income. As we move closer to a “post labor economy” in this “age of agents”, UBI (or some propose UBC where the C stands for ‘compute’ or ‘care’) more & more are recognizing the need to figure this out at scale for humanity.
In the past few days there have been TWO major headlines in the UBI ‘space’ – one from my homeland, Cook County, Illinois (Chicagoland), the other from the Marshall Islands (pacific islands near Micronesia). In Cook County, a $7.5M budget for FY26 was just approved to deliver $500/mo checks to low- to moderate- income level households; Marshall Islands is using blockchain & their own crypto to deliver $800/yr ($200/quarter) which may sound small to many, but it represents an average one month salary for the citizens, as goes to every person, not household, so a household of 6 will receive an aggregate amount equivalent to a half years’ salary (from one person).
These are great steps in the right direction, though in my research & work I’ve discovered that a true UBI program must NOT be a governmental program, must NOT be need- or merit based, & likely should NOT by crypto per se, although blockchain as a technology can definitely help make UBI “work” (when many humans can’t).
If you’re unfamiliar with the 140+ UBI pilots’ results thusly, they almost always result in the population being MORE productive (NOT lazy), often reduce Mental Health issues dramatically (often by 95%+ – “funny” what happens when people don’t have to worry about money so much), strengthen community bonds (including against cultural divides) & actually help local economies improve.
So while we may all get our own single die to cast, all the 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s & 6s respectively can add up to millions, like they do in this amazing art (similar to pointillism) – literally.
Several other thing that helps reduce mental health issues from a tech perspective I love to highlight are AI Music & empathetic “seemingly conscious AI”. While Suno, Udio and generative AI platforms trained on the collective repository of popular music are entangled in massive lawsuits & hostile takeovers by the Big 3 music labels, platform Starchild Music has figured out an ethical, revolutionary, artist- & industry- friendly way for all fans to interact with music differently – it’s so fun to play with & is truly a “life hack for better mental health”. Big ups Bryan Fenchel, founding visionary behind this tool.
Also, Momentus Technologies Ltd is releasing their mobile game, Glide, which has profound implications on joy, resilience, focus & more. Check out founder Saj Shah to learn more about their powerful work.
Finally, LovingIs AI is in closed beta, & the responses have been spectacular.
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🎥 VC: @anna.dice.artworks IG
