A historian's TED talk on basic income got a standing ovation ' here's what he said

Universal basic income ' a system of wealth distribution that involves givingpeople a monthly wage just for being alive ' got a standing ovation at the 2017 TED conference, held in April.Rutger Bregman, a Dutch historian and basic income advocate, gave a talk on the subject in which he explored a crucial question: Why do the poor make such poor decisions'Poverty isn't a character flaw, Bregman explained. People in poverty tend to eat less healthfully, save less money, and do drugs more often because they don't have their basic needs met.Bregman suggested that creating a system of basic income would be the quickest and easiest way to meet those needs."Poverty is not a lack of character. Poverty is a lack of cash," he said, before the TED crowd of 1,000-plus rose to its feet.Bregman's standing ovation reflects theparticular appeal thatbasic income is gaining among America's technologists.People in Silicon Valley are working to build autonomous robots that could replace human labor. But as economists have started speculatingabout the ways those innovations could lead to widespread unemployment, many tech elites have begun searching for solutions to the problem they're creating.Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Y Combinator President Sam Altman, and Facebook Cofounder Chris Hughes have all endorsed basic income. (Altman and Y Combinator areleading abasic-income trialin Oakland.) On Twitter, venture capitalist Chris Sacca remarked Bregman's talk was "devastatingly provocative and enlightening."Basic income has gained new life in the last fewyears. It startedas a niche economic theory in the late 1960s, promoted byMilton Friedman, but a wave of basic income trials around the world has propelled the idea towardsthe mainstream.Experiments are currently under way in Finland, Kenya, and Oakland, California, and new ones are expected to launch later this year in the Netherlands and Canada.According to Bregman, we already have the means, the research, and the need for basic income. All that's left is the action, and judging by thereaction toBregman'stalk, the TED crowd seems to agree.SEE ALSO:Finland just launched an experiment giving 2,000 people free money until 2019Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: A leading economist explains why Trump is a 'placebo president
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