College preparation should start in first grade... and every American should have a minimum guaranteed income.

This is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking we need to make the future work, say two pretty powerful thinkers.

The first piece of advice comes from Dr. Nancy Zimpher, as she prepares to down from her post as SUNY's 12th Chancellor.  Our work cannot begin at "grade 13," she says.

Meanwhile, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in his Harvard commencement speech suggested a "universal basic income" for every American.

"Every generation expands its definition of equality. Now it's time for our generation to define a new social contract," Zuckerberg said during his speech. "We should have a society that measures progress not by economic metrics like GDP but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful. We should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure everyone has a cushion to try new ideas."

One might argue that, if somehow these two recommendations were instituted in tandem, American might experience a 21st century Renaissance.

Of course, such a Utopia is beyond the imaginations of most of our political and corporate leadership and most of our populace.  The late Joe Bageant in his 2006 Deer Hunting with Jesus --- a book I have been recommending as summer reading to everyone who will listen --- put it this way:

 “The four cornerstones of the American political psyche are 1) emotion substituted for thought, 2) fear, 3) ignorance and 4) propaganda.”


If Joe was right --- and I believe that by and large he was --- this is no foundation on which to build a Renaissance.  This sounds more like the ingredients for an Inquisition.
What might be some other out-of-the-box ideas that would work, if only we had the will to try them?


For one, let's admit that, even if manufacturing can be revived in the US, most jobs will be done not by workers, but by robots.  This seems inevitable.  But is it also inevitable that the robots must be owned by the few, rather than the many?  If I can have an avatar on the Internet, why can't I have a surrogate robot-worker at the plant?  


Here's another: while we train students for the rapidly evolving world of work, let's ensure that they also receive a solid liberal education.  And I don't just mean critical thinking, writing ability and information literacy.  Yes, all these are desired by employers and are the source of the flexibility that will allow for the retraining that millennials and their progeny will have to undertake several times in their lives.  But, for those Americans for whom no meaningful work will exist, along with the basic income must come the basic sensibility to find meaning in other pursuits.  The best way to equip people for this possibility is exposure to the liberal arts.


The sixties media guru Marshall McLuhan once observed that we look at life through a rear view mirror, as we travel down our highways and byways. More precisely:“We look at the present through a rear view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”


Can this mold be broken?  Can we not only push the envelope, but tear it Here is a little essay on  some of the possible causes of the Renaissance.  Do Do you see any parallels to our own time and place? (I think perhaps I do.)