Equal pay? How about no pay? How about basic income?

Axios reminds us that in the vanguard industry known as tech, women earn less than men. Explicitly. Salaries offered to 63 percent of women are lower depending on the business. The situation is worse for African American women. In over half the cases noted by Hired women did not even get to the interview stage. Tech, the vanguard, risks being tagged as rearguard.

Trump and an elephant

This discrimination is not helped by Trump doing his best to disempower the hiring initiatives of former president Obama. There is also an elephant in the room that sweeps all who work, whether or not they are victims of discrimination, into the same category -- that of the future unemployed.

An unsustainable economy

What is unsustainable, eventually, is the economy that we madly serve under the illusion that it is the only reality there is. Everything is reality and the next big thing will be the world in which we are obligated to redefine what work is and to make vast adjustments in how we compensate people.

The present economy cannot survive.

Long-term future

Cybercommunities are a way of looking at the future. They gather in one basket the elements needed to create a sustainable world for everyone. An essential element of this thinking points to a solution that now goes by the name of Basic Income, or Universal Basic Income (UBI). It is being tried out from place to place.

If you read the article noted in the tweet above you will see why basic income in itself is merely a sort of add-on, a necessity, a bit like vaccines. The underlying issue that cybercommunities addresses is not just justice in the workplace. It is the coming condition of worklessness. As tech, the very industry that has a negative record in hiring women, becomes more and more pervasive, the options for hiring anyone at all shrink.

Universal reshuffling that is holistic

Unquestionably we should fight for income equality but we need to think long-term. Everyone should have meaningful work if they want it. Work should be a choice. Those who cannot or do not want work should be free to live on the basic income available to all. Most will work by choice and advance according to their interests and abilities.