As Our Jobs Are Automated, Some Say We'll Need A Guaranteed Basic Income

Natalie Foster was quoted in NPR Weekend Edition about guaranteed basic income and the future of work: 

Some experts say the only answer is a government-guaranteed paycheck that would allow people to buy food and housing. That would not only help the individuals but would help keep economic wheels spinning and generate tax revenues.

"Silicon Valley's interest in the universal basic income is one part guilt and one part optimism," says Natalie Foster, a fellow at the Institute for the Future, a nonprofit research organization in Palo Alto.

Some technologists suggest setting the basic income at $10,000 a year. Others have proposed raising carbon emission taxes to pay for it. Foster says there hasn't been enough research on basic income to have serious policy discussions.

She said that right now tech workers are in the "inquiry and research phase." They're holding meetups and hosting panels asking what would it mean to give people money they didn't work for, Foster says.