Nicolas_Colin

5 ms·

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by Nicolas_Colin 8y ago
Yes that is the proper way to frame it :-) Being unsuccessful is part of the startup life. Being a Zombie is not!
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by Nicolas_Colin 8y ago
The problem is not the salon itself. Rather it's zombie entrepreneurs being all over it, and non-zombie entrepreneurs wasting time in it trying to catch up. Neither is happening at The Family: our portfolio entrepreneurs are busy worki
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
Sure, will do ;-) But it was also meant as a distraction for those who are experiencing election anxiety.
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
A few weeks ago, I published a paper under the title “Enough With This Basic Income Bullshit”, which was extensively discussed here on Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12473112 This new one is a (long-form)
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HEDGE: Liberal Institutions for the Entrepreneurial Age(salon.thefamily.co)
6 points by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago|3 comments
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
Erm but I'm not a candidate, so I don't really care for your vote. And I definitely agree with the idea that political engagement is both voice and exit. That being said, what I suggest is not throwing away the UBI concept for the
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
I meant it as a conciliatory opening... What I meant is that if you care for economic security and lesser inequalities, then you have to fight for the whole liberal agenda (improving the coverage of all risks), not just one issue, otherwise
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
They're more stable because the rich, while paying more, also receive more. The pension amount is proportional to past professional income, as is that of unemployment benefits. Therefore old age and unemployment social insurances are n
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
Well, yes, that's my position: - there have been a lot of large-scale BI policy experiments in the past in many countries, and none turned out so well on the long term. Yes it's true that technology changes many things, but I thin
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
"Means testing is how you would LOSE political support" => yes you're right. And this is the reason why those (the Republican Party for instance) who are opposed to social policy out of principle invest a lot in transformi
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
I wrote the article, whose point is precisely that: what I called "bullshit" is the endless "problem-solution" conversation around basic income which, in my eyes, ignores politics as well as history and drains the politi
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
I agree as for what Blair did for the NHS, but it was precisely his way to deal with the NHS being a thorn in the side. What's interesting is the underlying philosophy: instead of providing citizens with money, the New Labour tried to
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
How so? It's exactly the way it's grouped and organized in all European social systems. It's also the framework used by Yale University's Jacob Hacker in "The Great Risk Shift" to discuss US social policy: htt
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
Maybe in the future you can vote for a party with which you are not perfectly aligned, then weigh on it while it exerts power to bring it closer to your views? I happen to think it's the greatest challenge to be tackled by civic tech s
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
Proof of current progress: http://a16z.com/2016/05/16/regulatory-hacking/ I can't wait for regulatory hacking to join the field of social policy. Many people will convert to social realpolitik at th
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
Thanks for replying. I'd say Silicon Valley is synonymous with tech industry here (the article effectively mentions "Silicon Valley and its satellites"). As for the second argument, I trust there is much progress in terms of
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
I wrote the article so I hope you'll continue reading :-) Technology destroys some jobs and it creates others, but those new jobs are numerous enough only if we put in place the right institutions (sustainable and inclusive). We'r
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
It's true, but those two arguments exist only on paper. In practice, my guess is that it wouldn't be long before UBI is converted a means-tested benefit, for both financial and political reasons. As for advantage number 2, yes you
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
Actually, talking is not the only way. Were 19th century factory workers content with talking? No: they initiated the labor movement and conquered the modern social state. The fact that so many people talk about BI without leaving their job
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
The dynamic (converting universal benefits into means-tested benefits) happened 2 years ago in France with universal childcare benefits ("allocations familiales"). It's true that people weren't happy, but the pressure i
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
I sincerely regret that the US is currently missing critical opportunities such as that to deploy a state-of-the-art universal health insurance, while most of the energy of those who could support that effort is dedicated to discussing basi
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
I wrote the article. Thank your for your response. I get your point about painters and writers. But my guess is that working on affordable housing would do more good on that front—and would be more sustainable politically. You can read this
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
I wrote the article. Thank you for your response. I'm certainly not the first to point out that Silicon Valley, as an ecosystem, is fundamentally uninterested in politics and history (especially social history). Would you disagree with
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
I wrote the article. Thank you for your response. I don't think post-scarcity will eat the entire economy anytime soon. In particular, I think that it will still be unaffordable to access proper medical care, child care, and housing. A
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
I wrote the article. This is not my point. The French RMI was enacted in 1988 with wide bipartisan support and really resembled a UBI at the time. Then, in the following decades, many people, notably on the right, started to hate it and, as
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by Nicolas_Colin 10y ago
Thank you for your response. I wrote this article because it seems to me the basic income discussion is orchestrated by people, notably in technology, who are unaware of politics and reluctant to get their hands dirty. I know that UBI, on p