# Basic Income Update

By [Continuations](https://continuations.com) · 2016-01-14

basic income

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Regular readers of Continuations know that I have been [writing a fair bit](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=basic%20income%20%20site:continuations.com) about [Basic Income](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income) and have also given several talks including [Techonomy Detroit](http://continuations.com/post/98318813755/the-next-big-thing-techonomy-detroit) and [TEDxNY](http://continuations.com/post/108271329110/tedxnewyork-big-and-bot-policy-proposals). I started thinking about Basic Income after writing a series of [posts about employment](http://continuations.com/post/36519475537/thinking-about-employment-part-3) towards the end of 2012 and started [researching](https://encrypted.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0ahUKEwiGmOTnpqnKAhXGaT4KHQDIAq0QFggrMAM&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcontinuations.com%2Fpost%2F69483074442%2Flooking-for-a-part-time-research-assistant-paid&usg=AFQjCNEEAS7UyNCs0A0PmXArJfOJofSqdg) the topic in more depth in 2013. I am thrilled to see that there is now an explosion of interest as can be seen on the following [Google trends chart](https://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%2Fm%2F0rfbfzq)

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/bc15f998d2a79d1fea23dcbbf1656d3e.png)

Europe has been taking the lead with a [commitment to a test in Finland](http://www.basicincome.org/news/2015/12/finland-basic-income-experiment-what-we-know/) and a [referendum about implementing a Basic Income in Switzerland](http://www.basicincome.org/news/2015/12/switzerland-the-interview-with-enno-schmidt-on-the-council-of-states-rejection-of-basic-income-initiative/) coming up this year (if you read German or want to give Google translate a whirl, I recommend the [referendum organizers’ site](http://www.grundeinkommen.ch/)).

My own view on Basic Income has also evolved. I now see it firmly as an integral part of making the transition to an information society. In my [talk about that transition at DLD in 2014](http://continuations.com/post/74378365234/the-big-questions-about-the-future-transition-to), I already had the sense that something profound was happening but I didn’t have the right framework to really think about it. More recently this has become a lot clearer: we are [facing another shift in scarcity, this time from capital to attention](http://continuations.com/post/131372549150/land-capital-attention-this-time-it-is-the-same).

In the coming weeks I will publish some posts and hopefully also a first draft of my [book](http://continuations.com/post/135249950150/book-update) to clarify precisely in what sense attention is scarce and how basic income helps with that. In the meantime I will be talking more about the topic [at DLD 2016](http://dld-conference.com/events/10-things-youve-always-wanted-to-know-about-the-future-of-wokr) and today on [NPR’s On Point](http://onpoint.wbur.org/2016/01/14/universal-basic-income-government-welfare).

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*Originally published on [Continuations](https://continuations.com/basic-income-update)*