Standing is also a co-founder of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), a non-governmental organisation that promotes the policy. He is currently advising Y Combinator, a large U.S. start-up accelerator, on its basic income experiment. The firm is looking into a basic income experiment in Oakland. How a basic income project might work in the future is unclear and the technology industry is still not sure. One idea is for governments to pay everyone a monthly sum.

There's no doubt that 2016 has been a sensationally hot year for auto tech. This week's acquisition of Chariot by auto manufacturer Ford marked just another indication that big auto makers are seriously entering ride-sharing services. Other M&A activity this year such as GM's acquisition of Cruise or Volvo's partnership with Uber has firmly pointed to big auto certainly also starting to secure paths for monetizing on the future fleets of autonomous vehicles. These recent energitic developments, as well as Elon Musk's Master Plan Deux, makes one thing clear; the transition to autonomous autos will be a reality sooner than later. Consequently, the debate on unemployment for drivers is a pressing matter.

Conversations about basic income, a government-funded salary given to every citizen, used to take place in the dingy offices of extremist left-wing politicians, or in the campus dorm rooms of idealistic students determined to fix the problems of the previous generation. The conversation was about social responsibility. It wasn't an economic case, it was a moral one. A sharp uptake in technology designed to automate jobs and replace human workers is bringing new voices to this old debate. Today's society could be disastrously affected by artificial intelligence and growing automation, and scientists and technologists are looking for ways to stop that damage before it happens.