Universal Basic Dystopia

This is the fourth and (probably) final installment on my current writing experiment: what might the world look like if Universal Basic Income were implemented?  The first three looked at the basic concept, the suite of tools that I think might be used and how people might take advantage of it.  This one will look at how the government might take advantage of it.

Please keep in mind that this is all conjecture.  I do not know that any of this would actually fall this way.  I remain a proponent of Universal Basic Income, crypto-currencies and their associated Smart Contracts.  I believe that technology will and should be installed inside the human body.  But the thing that I'm writing has taken on a life of its own and is not going in the direction that I originally intended.  And that's a good thing as it makes thing more interesting.

Universal Basic Crime

This continues my series on whatever it is that I'm writing for NaNoWriMo.  The first two can be found here and here.

As of the afternoon of Sunday, November 19, 2017, I'm sitting at 32,184 words written of the 50K required to 'win' National Writing Month.  I'm averaging around 1,700 words a day, which gets me across the finish line on 11/29.  Only not really.  I'll have 50K words written, but this story will be far from finished.  The challenge for me will be two fold: finishing the rest of the rough draft and then doing re-writes.

I already know that I need to fix things.  My villain is turning out to be someone quite different than the one I set out to use.  This is a real issue as I wrote the climactic fight scene first.  In the past, I've tried to be a bit more linear, starting at the beginning and slogging through to the end.  Unfortunately, I realized at about 30K words that I had no idea where the story was going.  I had all kinds of characters and a large problem for them to work on, but I did not know how the problem had originated or how it could be fixed.  So this time, I thought that I'd solve the problem first, then figure out how the characters got there.  I'm not sure that it's better, but I can say that the Scrivener writing software absolutely ROCKS for non-linear story telling.  I highly recommend it.

So what is the central conflict?  Read on.

Universal Basic Mechanics

As stated last week, I'm charging head long down the National Novel Writing Month annual challenge.  I'm up to 21,400 words as of the break I'm taking to write this blog.  The premise of my unlikely-to-see-the-light-of-day novel is to look at crime in a world where Universal Basic Income has been implemented.  What does that world look like and how will people try to take advantage of it.

Last week's post looked at how employment might actually change.  The TL;DR is that while people should be able to survive without work, it will be basic survival.  There will still be an incentive for people to work and companies to employ them.

This week I want to mentally explore how UBI might actually work from a back office stand point.  How does the government ensure that the right people get the right amount?  What existing and/or emerging technologies might be use to make it happen?  Read on...

Universal Basic Plot Device

This last week marks the start of November.  For most of us in the United States, this heralds nothing more than Trick-or-Treating, the end of Daylight Savings Time and the impending doom that is Thanksgiving with its aggressive day-after shopping blitzkrieg.

However, for a few thousand of us, in the US and beyond, it also starts the annual confrontation with self-motivation, internal demons and writer's block known as National Novel Writing Month.  NaNoWriMo for short.  The goal is to write 50,000 words in one month.  1,667 words a day.

I have entered a few times and completed it once (Purity, an attempted mash up of "The Last Unicorn" with "Game of Thrones").  Then I realized that 50,000 words, as many as that is, does not automatically equal a completed work of art.  I did not have an ending, merely a collection of scenes, some of which might be worth keeping, all of which would need to be extensively rewritten if they were ever going to be worth anything.  It now sits on my Google Drive and mocks me when I open that folder.  So I don't open that folder.

This year, I've done more pre-planning and am starting by writing the climax and then working backwards.  I'm not sure if this is any better than working in a more linear fashion, but it can't be worse.  You can track my progress, if you care, here.

Aside from the I'm-writing-this-and-this-other-thing-so-you-should-be-interested-in-both, there is more connecting this blog to my nascent novel.  Because of all my rambling thoughts on Universal Basic Income, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and Smart IDs, I've decided to set the novel in a world where all of those things are ubiquitous parts of the landscape.  I plan on using this post, and all of the rest through the month of November, to build this world in a fast-finger stream of consciousness.

What Price Your Package?

Last week, Amazon announced a new service called Amazon Key.  There has been a fair amount of press around it, so I'm not going to (completely) rehash what other's have already done.  Instead, I'm going to do what I always do: tear it apart and then offer some solutions.

First, a quick overview in case you don't like clicking links.  Amazon Key is an attempt to figure out how to secure deliveries.  Package theft is a real thing and the Amazon logo on a box sitting on a porch is a big 'come steal me' sign.  The Big A's solution is to sell a $249 kit to Prime members in select cities.  The kit includes a Smart Lock and Cloud-connected Camera.  Their courier gets a one time code to unlock your door, drop the package off and re-lock the door.  You get a notification and a video of this happening.

Package theft solved, right?  Maybe.  Read on.

Un-National Security ID

Last week, I discussed some thoughts on personal identification, specifically as it related to credit ratings and the Equifax breach.  However, one of the things that I did not discuss is why something like this is not already in place.

After all, many other countries have National ID programs that allow them to segregate citizens from non-citizens.  To understand who is entitled to the rights set forth in each country's governing documents and laws.  Also, who should be paying taxes.  From a bureaucratic stand point, having a strong, trustworthy National ID system only makes sense.

Then why doesn't the United States, the most rootin'-ist, tootin'-ist country in the whole dang world, have something like this?   Read on, intrepid ponderer!

Rate My Credit

The Equifax hack(s?) are highlighting more than the security of the institutions that are asking us to trust them with our personal information.  It is bringing into question the entirety of how these institutions identify us and thereby assign us credit.

Even the cursory, headline-scanning research that most of us do will show that the requirements for obtaining a new line of credit are ludicrous.  All you need is a Photo ID, Social Security Number (doesn't need to be yours), a matching birth date and address.  That's it.  And with the SSN and a little work, you can get the Photo ID.

Walk into most retailers (car dealerships, furniture stores, WalMart, Target, etc.), spend fifteen minutes filling out an application and then go to town.

This needs to change.  Even the White House agrees.  For what that's worth.