Human beings over the past few centuries have developed an effective societal model that lies on two broad entities: governments and corporations. Corporations presented opportunities to pull individual competencies and remunerated them in exchange for work; governments produced ecosystems for the corporations to function within while obtaining taxes from them to support governance. With the passage of time taxes have transformed into a real complex and established set of initiatives worldwide.

With globalization, some justification of rules legitimized cross-border trade. However, a substantial proportion of the world’s population is getting progressively disconnected with this economic reality. Perchance the time to ask some fundamental questions is now. Do we really need jobs? Is it possible to do without them?

Lately, Switzerland, keenly followed by Finland, began an activity wherein they inquired of their citizens if they would favor having a Universal Basic Income (UBI) that would jettison people from the tyranny of the empire (of jobs, positions, and structures). Interestingly, both nations scorned the concept of a Universal Basic Income.

Could it mean that humans intrinsically believe that their efforts should unavoidably be interpreted to be in contrast to another, and therefore compensated commensurately? Intriguingly, both nations overruled the proposal more on the lines of its application and the source of funding, as opposed to the approach in which it was defined. Certainly, one cannot discount the Universal Basic Income concept as resembling Social Security and Welfare systems obtainable in many countries around the world.

There could be a noteworthy opportunity to reorganize and redirect prevailing subsidies into the UBI standard, thereby liberating capital to invest in growth and novel opportunities. The conversations are complex, nevertheless in the framework of incomes and sustainability, UBI offers an opportunity that may fundamentally eradicate the classification of individuals; through jobs, into several roles, and transform them into a corporation, where each distinct person is a producer, consumer, trader, aggregator, and enabler bowled into one.

Certainly, this poses another intriguing question. If jobs could be eliminated entirely, and have machines take care of tasks for us, who would then remain in control? We may have to make some profound and radical choices within the next decade about technology and policy.