What if…? We are paid to be citizens.

Designing a different, better way to live

In her book Imaginable, Jane McGonigal introduces a game called Turn The World Upside Down. The premise is simple: take a fact that is true today, and turn it upside down.

I call this Future, Flipped.

So, let’s play. For this scenario, we’ll flip the idea of the cost of living — the idea that as citizens, we have to pay to live. But what if the opposite were true? What if in future, we are paid to be citizens?

Enter the future: A glitch in your social dividend

Thursday, 26th November 2032

Each month when you look in your MyGovBank account, you see a regular payment: the social dividend (SDP). For the last year or so it’s been a steady £2,000 each month, calculated according to the Anker Living Wage methodology. But this month the payment is late. You check again, refreshing the app, but the screen remains frozen except for a small loading circle spinning incessantly.

Nothing to worry about just yet. You have food in the fridge and the lights are still on. You don’t need the money, but it would have been nice to socialise with your friends later.