How to be an intentional optimist | Sandhya Anantharaman | TEDxLASalon

Whether we think the future is in our hands has a big impact on how that future turns out, argues futurist and optimist Sandhya Anantharaman. Learn how to be an "intentional optimist", and why in a time of uncertainty and transition, collective solutions to our problems are more important than ever. Sandhya Anantharaman is a Co-Director of the Universal Income Project, a nonprofit dedicating to raising awareness about universal basic income.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

When I hear about the future of work,

I hear a lot of worry about jobs.

Makes sense, right?

We see a lot of statistics like this one:

50 percent of all the activities
that people do at workplaces today

could be automated
with technology we already have.

So what does that mean
about where we're going?

We're worried about the truck drivers.

We're worried about the bank tellers.

There's a new one: you can now
be worried about baristas.

This is an automated coffee shop
in a mall in San Francisco.

But here's the thing:

I think that we are already seeing
a lot of impacts on jobs,

changing jobs that make it

so that Americans aren't keeping up
with where they need to be anyway.

If you look at this graph, you can see

that while productivity
has gone up over the last 30 years,

GDP, our collective wealth
has continued to go up,

incomes have flatlined.

Americans aren't keeping up
with what's going on.

And when you think about
what we were promised with jobs,

you can see the same thing.

It used to be, you could get a job,
be promised a 401K,

promised health care
for you and your family,

maybe even a pension.

You knew that every year
you'd get a raise.

And if you stayed in that job long term,
you could move up the ladder.

But I think that one of the impacts

that technology is having
on our workplaces

is that they're no longer communities.

They're becoming transactional.

We're continuing to exchange
small amounts of labor

for small amounts of cash.

So think about it this way:

when I am taking a Lyft,

I'm rating my driver
every time I finish a ride, right,

and that makes sense,

they want to make sure that they know --

Lyft wants to make sure
they know how my experience is.

You know, did my driver do a good job?

It's basic customer service.

But I think that this is actually changing

the way that we think about
our relationships with each other

more broadly.

Our relationships are becoming
more transactional with our workplaces.

If you look at the new options
that Lyft provides for ratings,

now I'm not just rating
my drivers, as I tip them.

I'm also telling Lyft
whether my driver was a good driver.

Do they have a clean car?

Did we have a fun conversation?

So I'm starting to tip my drivers

based on the value
of the conversation that we had.

Ok, so it starts with rating drivers
on conversations, now.

But at what point do we get to the point

where we're rating people
based on every interaction that we have?

That's where we are today:
we're rating folks, this is the trend.

So what does that mean
for the future of work?

Doomesday prepping.

(Laughter)

I'm serious, ok?

We'll spend the next six minutes
that we have together -

I've got a prepping 101 slide
from The Prepper Journal.

I want to introduce you
to "The Survivalist Mom".

She's got an excellent blog,
good for prepper kids.

And there's even a show
on National Geographic,

called Doomsday Preppers.

Yes, I see we have some fans.

Ok, so I actually can't teach you
everything there is to know about prepping

in the next 6 minutes.

But I bring up Preppers
because I actually think

that this is the future
of our transactional relationships.

Preppers are transactional relationships,
taken to the extreme.

So if you're not familiar
with Doomsday Preppers,

essentially they're a community of folks
who are preparing for apocalypse.

That could be climate disaster,
or an EMP attack -- or zombies, obviously.

And the plan is,

to prepare for the future
by building skills.

So you need to take a carpentry class,

or you need to learn
food preservation techniques,

so you can join a prepper community,

for safety.

But the thing is,

joining these prepper groups
is like a job interview.

They're not going to let you in
unless you have a skill that they need.

So according to Preppers,
the future of work

is making sure that you have skills
that you can trade for security.

The problem is that I think

that when we talk about skills
and automation and technology,

instead of talking
about the future of work

we're actually talking
about the future of jobs.

So, what is the point of a job?

A job gives me economic security,
financial stability.

If I have a full-time job,
I want to make sure I can pay my bills

and make sure that I can relieve myself
of anxiety about my financial future.

But let me ask you this:
what is your life's work?

Is your life's work
different from your job?

Are there people who do valuable work,
that don't get paid for it?

You know, I think about my mom,
when I ask this question.

My mom stayed at home
for all of my childhood,

to take care of me and my brother.

Trust me, when I say it was a lot of work.

Now she's a realtor.

But she still takes care of my grandma
who lives at home as well.

Is the only valuable work
that she's doing at her job as a realtor?

Think about volunteers.

I started my career in Atlanta
as a grassroots organizer.

And all of the in-person outreach
that my campaign did

was dependant on volunteers.

People who wanted to build a community

with other people
who cared about the same issues

and wanted to see the same kind of change

that they did.

We can talk about arts
and culture, entrepreneurship,

this really important TED talk
I'm giving you right now.

Much of the work -
the scope of valuable work

is much broader
than the scope of paid jobs.

So I think that Preppers

are actually talking and planning
for the future of jobs.

If we want to plan for the future of work,

what does that make us?

So I want to invite you
to join me as an intentional optimist,

and I'll tell you the difference

between Doomsday Preppers
and intentional optimists.

Preppers look at the future,

and believe that we have control
over individuals.

While we, as intentional optimists,

know that we can shape
our collective future.

So if that's what we're thinking about,

we're thinking about
how things are changing,

we're trying to make sure

that people have control over their future

and they can do meaningful work
while having economic security,

what's our plan?

Universal basic income
is a federal program

that's designed to guarantee
economic security.

So basic income is a structure
that we, as Americans, can create

to ensure that people
can take care of their basic needs.

It's very simple:

essentially, we can use
this collective abundance that we have,

this collective wealth,

to ensure that every American
gets a check every month

to make sure they can pay for the basics.

So, imagine this:

you, your friends,
your parents, your siblings

having the security to know

that every month, no matter what,
you'll get a check,

let's say it's 1,500 dollars,

to make sure you can pay for those basics
that need to be taken care of.

Imagine the opportunities
that that would open up.

Now, basic income isn't meant to be
a substitute for work or for jobs,

not at all.

Basic income gives us the security,
the stability and the freedom

to choose what we're doing with our time.

Think of it as a platform.

Basic income provides Americans
with the economic security

to weather transitions
and times of change,

while also giving us all
the peace of mind

that too few of us have.

Basic income gives us the chance
to walk away from bad jobs.

It gives us the chance
to fight for better ones.

And it gives us the option

to choose to spend our time
on work that is valuable.

Basic income recognizes
our right to dignity

without asking us to prove our own worth.

So here's what I want to leave you with:

work is about the collective,
while jobs are about the individual.

The future of work is about us,

it's about our relationships
to each other and the world.

Jobs are a means of supporting
ourselves as we get there.

Preppers will convince you

that the only control
that you have over the future

is individual.

You better take that hunting class

and hope that you can find a group
that will let you join.

I'm hoping instead that you'll join me,
as an intentional optimist.

We have control over the structures
that shape the future,

and there's no doubt
that we are stronger together.

So let's fight for the future of work,
with universal basic income.

Thank you.

(Applause)