If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Have you ever wondered why we’re still stuck in 40-hour work weeks when the world’s greatest economists predicted we’d be working just 15 hours by now?
- Did you know that the secret to ending global poverty might not be more charity or complex policies, but a solution that seems almost too simple to be true?
- What if the most 'unrealistic' ideas for our future are actually the most practical solutions to the soul-destroying jobs and inequality we face today?
Listen to Utopia for Realists — Free Audiobook
Loading player...
Key Takeaways from Utopia for Realists
- Discover why living in an era of unprecedented historical wealth and safety has left society strangely dissatisfied, and why we must start dreaming big again.
- Understand why giving unconditional, no-strings-attached cash is far more effective at improving lives than traditional charity programs that dictate what impoverished people need.
- Learn how global evidence disproves the myth that financial handouts breed vice, proving instead that poverty is simply a lack of money rather than a character flaw.
- Find out how implementing a Universal Basic Income is remarkably affordable, with studies showing that completely eradicating US poverty would cost less than one percent of its GDP.
- Explore the real-world trials of Universal Basic Income that prove free cash doesn't destroy the work ethic, but actually empowers families and boosts educational attainment.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from Utopia for Realists
Mind Map
Utopia for Realists
The Modern Paradox
Unprecedented Wealth
Lost Imagination
Universal Basic Income & Free Money
Effectiveness of Direct Cash
The UBI Concept
Debunking UBI Myths
Redefining Progress
Flaws of GDP
A New Dashboard
The 15-Hour Workweek
Historical Context
Benefits of Less Work
Rethinking Work & Value
Essential vs. Prestige Jobs
Using Taxation
Technology & Inequality
The Great Decoupling
Radical Redistribution
Open Borders
Economic Impact
Moral Imperative
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 8
According to the book, what is a primary reason organizations often resist giving unconditional cash to impoverished people?
Utopia for Realists — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: Today’s world ought to be paradise, yet we still feel oddly dissatisfied.
Chapter 3: Providing free cash to people is a surprisingly effective way to improve their lives.
Chapter 4: The time to introduce a Universal Basic Income has arrived.
Chapter 5: Gross domestic product is a warped, outdated measure of progress; it should be replaced now.
Chapter 6: We ought to embrace the many benefits of a 15-hour workweek.
Chapter 7: The way we prioritize which jobs are prestigious or well-paid is wrong.
Chapter 8: Our economy is fundamentally shifting, and technology poses a bigger threat to jobs than ever before.
Chapter 9: We can use taxation to redistribute wealth in the coming machine age, or else slide into even greater inequality.
Chapter 10: If we truly want to harness our wealth to build a utopia, we must throw open wide the world’s borders.
Utopia for Realists Summary & Overview
Utopia for Realists (2016) is a call to arms for a radical rethinking of life, work and how society functions. It argues that the world enjoys unprecedented wealth and material comfort but is still full of problems, from soul-destroying jobs to inequality and poverty. We have the power to solve these problems and build a better future if we embrace utopian thinking.
Who Should Listen to Utopia for Realists?
- Blue-sky thinkers
- Socially engaged people who want to eradicate poverty
- Frustrated citizens who feel there must be a better way to organize our society and economy
Books Similar to Utopia for Realists
Readers who enjoyed this also liked these titles.
Moral Ambition
★ 0.0 / 5 • 0 ratingsStop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference
The War on Normal People
★ 4.5 / 5 • 145 ratingsThe Truth About America's Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income Is Our Future
Inventing the Future
★ 4.0 / 5 • 53 ratingsPostcapitalism and a World Without Work
This Could Be Our Future
★ 4.4 / 5 • 70 ratingsA Manifesto for a More Generous World