This Week's 3 Bells
Flying taxis | Basic Income in KE | Robot taxes
|
|
Are you ready to jump into a drone taxi?
|
|
The 3 Bells has always told you: first adoption of technology solutions for the wider public will come in places like Dubai, Singapore and Kigali. Why, because they are small, ambitious and top-driven. Lo and behold, Dubai just announced that later this year you can try out a flying drone-taxi in the city-state. The drone will carry just one passenger with one suitcase. If that isn't hair-raising enough for you, the taxi will be autonomous - no pilot. It will be directed from a control-room on the ground. The drone is an EHang 184 from China and can do short distances over the city. This certainly grabs the attention, but Dubai says it is more than a gimmick; the emirate is committed to a future of autonomous vehicles.
Now, here's the question: would you hop into a little drone with no pilot and fly off? You can see a demo video here to help you decide...
Photo credit: Dubai Roads & Transport Authority (adjusted)
|
|
|
These are early days. But as autonomous vehicles enter the mainstream, will you be one of the early adopters?
|
|
Kenya is doing advanced basic income testing
|
|
I wrote here and here recently that Universal Basic Income (UBI) will loom large in public policy across the globe. Why? Because we don't have an answer to the problem that rapidly arriving technology - robotics, autonomous vehicles, 3D printers and the like - poses: what will happen to all the workers? We have to think hard about UBI - giving a living income to all citizens, regardless of whether they work for it - just to hold society together.
Now, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar's Network announced it was putting up nearly half a million dollars to a programme in Kenya called GiveDirectly to test UBI. The money will go towards a 12-year pilot that aims to be the largest UBI experiment to date. GiveDirectly plans to give cash, with no strings attached, to more than 26,000 people in 200 villages in Kenya. About 6,000 of them will get a long-term basic income for the full 12 years. Payments of about $0.75 per day, or half the average adult income in rural Kenya, will provide invaluable data to researchers. Omidyar's foundation is worried that today’s social safety nets are not up to the task in an age of automation and globalization. Poor countries, especially in Africa, may suffer from "premature deindustrialization".
Photo credit: Ciku Nyawira (adjusted)
|
|
|
UBI testing is now going on all over the globe. Keep an eye on it. We need to know what effects it has on willingness to work and social stability. Much data is needed.
|
|
Tax the robots, says Bill Gates
|
|
|
Meanwhile, the very influential Bill Gates says we should tax robots. If they take human jobs, they pay. Since companies are going to benefit hugely from using robots, they need to be prepared to pay more tax. The tax takings could go some way to alleviate some of the costs to society of tech disruption, and could fund the UBI initiatives (see Bell 2 above) that are being mooted as a policy response.
|
|
|
The effects of the coming wave of technology will have far-reaching repercussions on society, far beyond the initial deployment. The very nature of how we live, work and support our societies may be up for grabs. Are you one of the few thinking ahead?
|
|
|
|
