Let's call it an "iEverything."

You can't get it yet,

but if technology keeps moving as fast as it is now,

the iEverything will be with us before you know it;

a combination of intelligent computing,

3D manufacturing,

big data crunching,

and advanced biotechnology.

This little machine will be able

to do everything you want

and give you everything you need.

There's only one hitch.

As the economy is now organized,

no one will be able to buy it

because there won't be any paying jobs left.

You see, the iEverything will do...

everything.

I'm exaggerating a bit

in order to make a point about

the trend we're already seeing.

Even now, we're producing more and more

with fewer and fewer people.

Internet sales are on the way

to replacing millions of retail workers.

Diagnostic apps will be replacing

hundreds of thousands of healthcare workers.

Self-driving cars and trucks

will replace five million drivers.

*digital voice* Where would you like to go?

Researchers estimate that almost half

of all U.S. jobs are at risk

of being automated in the next two decades.

Now, this isn't necessarily bad.

The economy we're heading toward

could offer millions of people more free time

to do what they want

instead of what they have to do to earn a living.

But, to make this work,

we'll have to figure out some way to recirculate the money

from the relatively few people

who do very well in the economy of the iEverything

to the rest of us, who will want to buy

the iEverythings.

One possible answer:

a universal basic income,

possibly financed out of

the profits going to labor-replacing innovations.

The idea of a universal basic income historically

has had support from people on both the left

and the right.

In the 1970's, President Nixon

proposed a similar concept for the United States,

and it even passed the House of Representatives.

*President Nixon* I therefore propose

that we abolish the present welfare system,

and a basic federal minimum would be provided.

The idea is getting some traction again.

Some think it could be superior to welfare

or other kinds of public assistance,

because a universal basic income doesn't

tell people what to spend the assistance on.

And everyone qualifies.

In recent years, evidence has shown that

giving people cash

as a way to address poverty

actually works.

In study after study, people

don't stop working, and they don't drink it away,

they actually use it

to increase their earnings.

Interest in a basic income is surging,

with governments debating it from Finland,

to Canada,

to Namibia.

The charity Give Directly

is about to launch a basic income pilot in Kenya.

Providing an income for more than ten years

to some of the poorest and most vulnerable families

on the planet, and then

rigorously evaluate the results.

As new technologies replace work,

the question for the future is

how best to provide economic security for all.

A universal basic income

could be an answer.