As legion_miracle mentioned, many extraordinarily wealthy and/or well-known individuals are openly supporting UBI. While the early-adopters are forward-thinking and altruistic, other extremely wealthy individuals will eventually realize that an ever increasing wealth disparity between the ultra-rich and everyone else is not indefinitely sustainable. History has proven time and time again, that large numbers of people who are hungry, oppressed, exploited, and feel that they have nothing left to lose will eventually rebel. The rich are often targeted and their families attacked and forced to flee or are killed, and their homes looted and ransacked when those rebellions occur. From a practical standpoint, even those who currently despise the thought of “handouts” (UBI) - it is much easier to placate the masses with basic income than face future rebellions that may end in violent overthrow. In short, UBI helps keep people relatively happy, fed, clothed and housed, which in-turn allows the very rich to remain in power and enjoy their lifestyle without the threat of civil unrest.
Additionally, there are already small UBI experiments either underway or planned. The Finnish government randomly selected 2,000 unemployed Finns from across the country for a trial testing universal basic income. It started in January of 2017 and will run through the end of 2018. Many news outlets are tracking the successes and failures. I am confident that many other governments are closely watching as well.
If it can be shown that people can attain higher education, or start new businesses, or simply become less stressed or less prone to violence while receiving UBI then that will provide another big boost. Challenges and growing pains will certainly arise out of the UBI movement, and adoption will come much sooner in some countries than in others, but when implemented correctly it seems the best solution for many of the people-related challenges we face globally.
Thanks, both of you guys brought up some interesting points and i actually had no idea how many powerful people actually support the UBI model. Blockchain is in fact a perfect technology for this, on that I most certainly agree. I suppose my next question would have to be, why MANNA? and why not some other project with bigger backing? What's to stop Zuckerberg creating his own blockchain based UBI? Manna may be the first mover on this, but realistically if anyone that powerful moves in, Manna would be almost automatically 2nd to it.
Also is there a place where I can speak to the people behind MANNA anywhere?
Why Manna? Well the obvious first answer would be that they are a first mover as you have mentioned, but I don't think this is by any stretch the best answer. The rebranding from Grantcoin to Manna was a big move that in my opinion was very well done, and looks amazing. However i think the biggest factor that puts Manna as a frontrunner is the continual growth. If you look at the Grantcoin / Manna history you will see a steady growth in use, value and registrations. The last couple cycles for Manna distribution have seen over 20,000 participants. This I believe places Manna as one of, if not the largest UBI platform to date. On top of that, Manna is not restricted to a small region as other UBI social experiments have been, giving them a heads up advantage of data on a more global scale.
I'm not saying that Manna will be the frontrunner, but they are certainly positioned well to achieve it. I strongly believe in the platform, and the development team. I have personally had the opportunity to speak with Brandon Venetta, and I could tell there was some true passion for success from the Manna team.
