Silicon Valley's Basic-Income Experiment Is Worth Watching

Silicon Valley is famous for disrupting industries, but disrupting social problems is a different matter. Closely held companies that exist in highly competitive markets can easily hurt the bottom line by spending resources on helping the needy -- which is why government, not business, usually provides aid to the poor. But against the odds, a Silicon Valley innovator is disrupting poverty.

YCombinator, probably the most famous tech-company accelerator, is starting a pilot program to test the idea of universal basic income. Basic income is simply a certain amount of money given to every adult. Although the idea has struggled politically so far -- Switzerland on Sunday voted down a basic income program -- it has gathered increasing interest from unlikely corners of the political spectrum.

QuickTake Universal Basic Income