iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

"Oh we just have questions about Kamloops." Oh really? Well I just have "questions" about the IDF. No? Why do I feel like if, hypothetically their "questions" about Kamloops were answered they'd just have new "questions"? Weird how that works. Or not. It's about who's seen as fully human.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 23h

Thousands of years ago we were busy but didn't have "jobs". Thousands of years from now, hopefully we'll still be busy but may not have "jobs." We are a meaning finding, connection seeking, question asking people. It's just who we are.

From memes to view on Twitter:

Two panel shows a cave man with caption "just wanted to crack a nut"

Then next panel shows the International Space Station and the Large Hadron Collider.
Caption reads "But got a bit carried away."

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Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 28/09/2026

I'm not a fan of this format in general, but I think @andrew-yang.bsky.social did a great job here of making it friendly versus adversarial and explaining why AI is going to have fewer winners than losers, and why universal basic income is so important as a foundation.

youtu.be

AI Realist vs 20 AI Optimists (ft. Andrew Yang) | Surrounded

YouTube video by Jubilee

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Longer podcast but a really good one on the future of work and UBI with Dr. Larry Liu of Morgan State University: youtu.be/un5Lw8t-4mM?...

youtu.be

Will Work Become Optional? AI, Universal Basic Income, and the Future of Society | Dr. Larry Liu

YouTube video by Terraverse Global - Digital Dash Podcast

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Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 28/09/2026

This is why it's such nonsense for anyone to say that with UBI, people will lose meaning. First, jobs aren't any source of meaning for many people with jobs. Second, the jobs people can't say no to are in the way of a getting a lot of meaningful work done. And third, the rich seem to find meaning.

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Ken Yang @kenjaminyang.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

It's literally a generational investment.

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UBI Works @ubiworks.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Universal training data. Universal dividend.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

As someone with extended FN family, can we please finish the calls to action or at least acknowledge that this isn't some distant past? Standing by her I can tell stories first hand. Not distant. Not past. 3 days to the 30th. Because of course it is.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I like how one person described UBI as peoplemaxxing but yeah. Is necessary, was necessary, will be necessary.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Just digging in now but... @andrew-yang.bsky.social is on Surrounded talking all things Ai and UBI! 🤩🎉 youtu.be/020ZvO0FbMM?...

youtu.be

AI Realist vs 20 AI Optimists (ft. Andrew Yang) | Surrounded

YouTube video by Jubilee

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Basic Income Action ↗️ @basicincomeaction.org · 27/09/2026

Since 1979, worker productivity is up 93.7%. Typical worker pay is up only 32.7%. The gains kept flowing, they just stopped flowing to the people generating them. Would a guaranteed income floor give workers enough leverage to close that gap, or is it too structural for UBI alone to fix?

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Add the growth of technology and rentierism in that same time and you have the perfect storm, built up from over half a century. While not a panacea a progressively viewed basic income could both make up some difference while pushing back against keeping everything out of the way of market power.

In 1971 compensation and
productivity decoupled, stagnating
wages. The claim is the pie grew
for everyone forgets that
rentierism and neoliberal economics
ensured the growth all went to the
top.1 of 1%

Beneath is a graph overlayed on an image of a apple pie. It shows real GDP per capital to median wage from 1943 to 2023. From 1943 productivity (GDP per capita) wages and other lines on the graph roughly grow in lock step. Then in 1971 this split with the former climbing high and wages flatlining in real terms to present day.

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Basic Income Action ↗️ @basicincomeaction.org · 27/09/2026

Basic income isn't a handout. It's a fair claim on the wealth we all keep generating together. What would change for you if that claim were guaranteed?

Getting paid at the time doesn't erase the value you created. Infrastructure and institutions compound across generations, each builds on what came before and passes forward more than they were paid for. That surplus is growth. Basic income is an equal and fair claim on that ongoing surplus.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I want people offline more. I want them to have more time to make connections offline to do things these guys can't control. So many platforms never had a "town square" or our best interests in mind. Of course they won't share the pushback.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The oldest reason for basic income is also its most contemporary.

Poverty didn't exist in the natural state.
Basic income is part of the compensation to ensure it remains that way.

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Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 25/09/2026

One of the most frustrating things about creating anything is spending weeks creating something that takes 20 minutes to consume, and people who may really enjoy spending 20 min that way not having that 20 min available. We live in an attention economy where someone has X hours for infinity options.

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Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 25/09/2026

We need a constant drum beat for UNIVERSAL basic income that only gets louder and louder. Consider taking a moment each day to post at least one thing about the need for UBI, or to repost what others have posted. I do this every day. You can use my timeline as a quality filter to save time. ✊️

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Did you know: The "Welfare Queen" that started Reagan's neoliberal attack on the welfare state (later to be picked up by subsequent governments on both sides to this day) was based on a real person. But here's the thing: Last thing she was was "lazy". youtu.be/mr_8B1IzFFY?...

youtu.be

The true story behind the ‘welfare queen’ stereotype

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

More and more tech eats away at the work done by people, including in work connected to the arts. The future of work is less and less the mass employment of the past. Our work got us to this. We should be better off in real terms, not just being able to see it as we scramble to find more jobs.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Ok, here we go. Provincially: Make both basic income and disability rates an voting issue. The BC Greens are the ones to have consistently stood for basic income. The NDP came up with an intentionally bias "report" on agreement to look at it for the Greens only to intentionally swat it aside.

"We’re looking into the possibility of a living wage or universal basic income, because this is particularly relevant with the rise of AI potentially wiping out massive amounts of white-collar jobs in unexpected ways.”

“This is something that has been pursued in Ireland and Scotland and has been incredibly successful in contributing to their arts, culture, and overall national productivity.”

Emily Lowan
Green Party of BC

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

After doing this stuff for 6 years, no way near as long as some, I've learned one thing: There's just nothing they won't come up with to send people off the scent of basic income. A slightly fed up rant 😅

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UBI Works @ubiworks.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

"nO oNe WiLl WoRk On UBI!!!111"

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Basic Income Action ↗️ @basicincomeaction.org · 22/09/2026

Every good post or article on basic income needs someone to pass it along. Be that person today.

Basic Income Action. @basicincomeaction.org.
Read something good on UBI? Don't let it end with you.
1 Find a good post or article on basic income.
2 Copy the link.
3 Share it in the comments.
One link can do a lot of work. basicincomeaction.org

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Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 22/09/2026

The take that UBI is bad because it would make us need government is bad. The same argument could be used against doing Social Security or Medicare if we didn't already have them. If everyone needs a government program, that's good for democracy and bad for politicians who threaten those programs.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Scott Santens on the productivity-wage gap since the 1970s "Great Decoupling."

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Unconditional basic income, especially with how things have gone and continue to go, is like drawing a line in the sand for each other. It's saying my neighbors shouldn't have to prove why they get to survive. They just should.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Basic income. Because the future should be better.

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Scott Santens @scottsantens.com · 20/09/2026

I truly, deeply, sincerely do think the guy flipping burgers at McDonalds should be able to afford his basic needs like groceries with his basic income alone and that his job should pay for all the fun stuff because that's the point of a job and I can't believe this is considered a radical position.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Your reminder that, from its earliest writers like Thomas Paine and Bertrand Russell to current day, a basic income or Universal Basic Income (UBI) was never about some future in which it is an allowance that is all you'll have.

"...it should be clear that the word
"basic" in basic income is meant to
convey the idea of a floor on which
one can stand because of its very
unconditionality. It is a foundation
on which people can build their lives
in various ways, including by
topping it up with income from
other sources. Nothing in the
definition entails a specific
amount."
Phillippe Van Parijs
Professor of Economic and Social
Ethics
from "Basic Income: A Radical
Proposal for a Free Society and a
Sane Economy" (2017)

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Dont work from home. Also hustle which means working beyond that lazy mere 40 hours. Also don't drive so much. Your fault for being poor. Thank heavens you are though, because otherwise then you could actually choose jobs. Some status quo. Trickle down had it's chance. Raise the damn floor.

@unusual_whales
US Energy Secretary has
said Americans should drive
less if they want lower gas
prices, per Bloomberg.
@mill_hunt
I CANT FUCKING DO
ANYTHING WITHOUT DRIVING
BECAUSE YOU BUILT THIS
FUCKASS COUNTRY AROUND
DRIVING A CAR.

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UBI Works @ubiworks.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Torontonians are also selling blood plasma to make ends meet. People are desperate. The extra income boosted the local economy, cut crime, and replaced predatory payday loans. UBI has the same proven benefits without needing to sell your body. It's obvious what we need to do.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Actual conversations I've been in: 1998 "How much is rent?" "$400." "Pff...you got hosed." 2009 "Once rent goes above $900, I'm gone." It has gotten crazier. Don't let anyone bullshit you. #BasicIncome NOW.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Some form of basic income floor isn't utopian. It's finally recognizing that we need people to have basic stability to meet instability, to retrain, to meet an increasingly complex situation. Floyd Marinescu of Commonwealth Canada and UBIWorks:

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Jinti is Making Passive Notice Checks @jinti.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

y'all should push for Universal Basic Income 'cuz artists that aren't stressin' over rent and groceries and taxes all the time WILL draw freakier, more unmarketable shit

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RexLibris @rexlibris.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Edmonton adopted a harsh policy of removing encampments a few years ago, while Calgary did not. A study of the first year following that shift found a five-fold increase in emergency amputations in Edmonton over previous years with no change in Calgary's rate.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Dr. Evelyn Forget on one particular example of how the Manitoba Mincome Experiment (1974-1979) actually effected labour.

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Note: In the OPEN mode which John explains and where creativity is most likely, we are not under the pressure to get things done quickly. Almost like we should help people regain their time and breathing space and that this is not a step towards a "lack of productivity". youtu.be/nvKeu46jgwo?...

youtu.be

John Cleese's Legendary 1991 Speech About Creativity

YouTube video by Video Arts

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Oh, its true. UBI would cost us less, right now. It's a stitch in time with additional benefits of us having trusted you up front instead of folding our arms and saying "prove it."

Man on mountain top with world behind him...

Basic Income cost less than poverty!

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

People need meaning ✅️ Meaning comes from jobs only ❓️🤔 Therefore UBI kills meaning? ❌️🤨 Oh, 100% youtu.be/sU9YUJRNVjY?...

youtu.be

Busting Myths About Basic Income, Work, and Meaning

YouTube video by Philosophy For The Many

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Gendered Creature Calling Themselves Petra @trehvaul.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Nothing radicalizes someone to UBI quite like dealing with the bullshit that comes with filing for unemployment. =~="

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Tom Pogson @basicbc.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

"I'm always trying to reduce labour costs" My first scheduling manager, 1992. A job may be needed less and less. It's sociopathic to say that about humans. We can invest in humans first with a solid floor to address uncertainty and let them decide more on how their time is spent.

We currently have a society where jobs are
necessary to survive, but corporations are
doing everything they can to eliminate jobs.
Amy Dentata, Game Developer, Writer & Comedian

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