Aura Talks

On this week's episode, the magificent B— the poster child Aurovilian, the great living legend— takes us on a fascinating trail. He maps out the path he has taken over the years to create an alternative, prosperous, and caring economy. He shares with us the tales of the first "Prosperity system", Pour Tous, the start of Vérité, and the manifestation of the Aura in 2011... and that’s not even the half of it! If the stories don’t inspire you, his light sense of humour and childlike enthusiasm will definitely keep you entertained. So tune in for this week’s episode that will paint a much clearer picture of how Auroville’s economy has come to be the way it is today. Happy listening!

Episode 3 is on the road, and this week we have some new voices! Eden and Jasmine from Last School join us to talk about themselves, their motivations to help us out on this project and most importantly, how our first workshop went! We conducted our first workshop last week with the students of Last School, aiming to hopefully get some brain gears moving in the right direction as well as explore some attitudes towards offerings and sharing. Come and listen to how the workshop went straight from the two workshop attendees, in addition to some insights they had on why we are doing them in the first place. We will also mention our next steps for the project, in terms of what sector we are aiming for and where our future workshops will be! So join us for some Auroville student perspectives on this project and more. Happy listening!

Welcome back everyone for Episode 2 of Aura Talks! In last week’s episode we laid the foundation for what Universal Basic Income (UBI) is, and in this episode we go on to talk about the differences between the funding system in the traditional mode of UBI and what we are trying to  experiment with here in Auroville. What is the difference between traditional UBI versus "Circular Basic Income"? Again with the fancy terminology, we know, we know, but we can assure you that it’ll all make more sense once you listen to the podcast. We will explore the differences between these two different models, as well as discuss a little bit about why the latter makes so much more sense, especially for context of Auroville. We will also be talking about why the current economic model in the world isn’t what we are aiming for, and highlight on certain issues that Auroville has already like “Groupism”, a certain lack of organisation when it comes to offerings from the community and how exactly we can shift the mindset of community members from the idea that we live in Scarcity as opposed to Abundance. So join us for this conversation on how and what we are trying to tackle here in Auroville, painting a picture on both kinds of UBI and what they entail and of course Malcolm’s signature food for thought. Happy listening!

Today on Aura Talks, Dan Be and Jonas co-host a special feature episode regarding the collaborative project between Auroville Youth and the Science Walden Institute. Together, they embark on a journey of exploration— why is a project of this nature so fitting for the context of Auroville? Why did they feel so gravitated towards this initiative? In this 45-minute episode filled with curiosity and honest laughter, Jonas and Dan Be break down the main theoretical and philosophical components of feces Standard Money (fSM), a concept developed by the Science Walden Institute. Please join us to hear about their experience attending the World Basic Income Congress earlier this August, and how/why they have started to explore new modes of Basic Income using a virtual platform that could users easy access to a pool of under-utilised resources.

https://cutt.ly/qeflDTv

Link to Dan Be’s youth talk regarding her experience growing up in Auroville:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4YNQwLSCcY

Dan Be Kim

Jonas Nyamador

Welcome to Episode 1! In this podcast series we will be delving into the concepts of Alternative Economy, Universal Basic Income, Auroville’s connection to these two, not to mention a general overview of what it really means to be a resident of this ‘one-of-a-kind’ community. If you’re worried that it’s going to be hard to keep up (or perhaps the material is a little dry)-- we as a team are determined to keep it interesting, relevant and hopefully informative for you. But wait, who are we? Well we are a bunch of Auroville Youth, with different backgrounds with different relationships to this community, working together to hopefully achieve something pretty cool in Auroville. But more on that later.

In this particular Episode, we will introduce ourselves to you, and bring into the spotlight the topic of Universal Basic Income. Big words, and fancy terminology. But what does it mean? To keep it brief, it means every individual within the community receives an unconditional and periodic sum of money to cover their basic needs. And when I say every individual, I mean every individual.

We’ll be discussing this very interesting concept and talk a little bit about its pros, its cons and of course bring it down to the context of Auroville. Is Auroville a good space to try this out? Why is it necessary?

We will dabble into the sustainability of the economy of the world and Auroville, as well as tell you a little bit about why we joined this project. To put it simply the project is a collaboration with Science Walden Institute to experiment with an unconventional spin off of Universal Basic Income in Auroville. Interesting right? How in the world are we going to do this? Well I guess tune in to the series to find out. Catch us every week and spend some time listening to some Auroville Youth, trying to figure it all out, just as much as you are.

Let's start questioning.

Let's start challenging.

Let's start understanding.

What do we understand as an "economy"?

Is the world's current economy sustainable?

Is the concept of Universal Basic Income too idealistic?

Tune in today to hear some perspectives shared by the Youth!