Basic Income From a New (Old) Perspective: Uncovering Forgotten Science Fiction from the 1960s

Author: Jose VillatoroAmaya

Field of Study: Arts and Humanities

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Will Glovinsky

Easel: 54

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: In the 1960s, policy planners and academics started to ask whether waged labor would become unnecessary with advancements in technology. In such an eventuality, some argued that a form of guaranteed income could provide financial stability in a post-work world. But discussions of a guaranteed income were not limited to economists and government planners: science fiction writers also began to imagine how a basic income would impact work, society, and human flourishing. However, this pulp literature has been largely forgotten. Focusing on the fiction of Mack Reynolds, this project uncovers this neglected sci-fi writer and compares his envisioned futures supported by a basic income with the ideas of the social scientists that followed them. Reynolds’s stories and novels suggest a mixed picture of how guaranteed income might affect society: he worries about work incentives and immigration but also foresees a decline in crime and a rise in leisure.