Scientifically and technologically, the world is in flux bordering on chaos. Every day brings something new: a new discovery, a new device, a new technique, a new cure. The pace of change is dizzying; we scarcely know where we stand. Yesterday's novelty is today's norm, tomorrow's anachronism.

Striking by contrast is the intellectual paralysis in other fields of human endeavor. Nineteenth-century capitalism rules our economies, 19th-century democracy governs our politics. Spiritual nourishment, for most of us, depends on religions thousands of years old. Modification there has been, but no upheaval. When is the last time you heard a startlingly new political, economic, religious or philosophical idea?

The idea we consider here is startling, but not really new — only its slowly growing respectability is. Cranks and visionaries have been playing with it for centuries. The name by which it's lately known is not calculated to grab your attention. It almost seems calculated not to. "Basic income": Who would see a potential revolution in that?