Restoring Time as the Currency of Progress

How Universal Basic Income Fuels Innovation, Creativity, and Shared Abundance

Introduction

Time is the ultimate scarce resource. Money, a human invention, was meant to serve it—but somewhere along the way, the roles reversed. The concept of “more pie” reimagines economic progress by prioritizing the liberation of human time over the accumulation of money.

Historically, we advanced by finding ways to save time—through agriculture, tools, and automation—freeing people to pursue art, science, and civic life. The printing press, for example, liberated time from oral transmission, decentralizing knowledge and igniting the Renaissance. But as wealth concentrated and financial systems grew dominant, we began optimizing for artificial metrics—like hedge fund profits and screen-time addiction—instead of maximizing free time for creative and societal contributions.

This essay proposes a reorientation of economic incentives. Universal Basic Income (UBI) becomes not just a redistributive policy, but a lever to restore the value of time, decentralize innovation, and grow the “pie” for everyone.

The Misalignment of Money and Time

Money was invented to streamline trade and account for contributions to collective well-being. Early systems rewarded those who saved time for others—farmers who grew surplus food or inventors who created tools that made work easier. But as economies scaled, money became a goal unto itself.

Today, entire industries monetize time-wasting, not time-saving. Financial instruments, speculative markets, and digital platforms dominate our collective attention, diverting human effort from solving meaningful, time-freeing problems. Consider:

  • Hedge funds optimize for monetary returns with minimal societal benefit.

  • Social media glues people to screens, monetizing attention instead of freeing time.

  • Bureaucratic inefficiencies, in both public and private sectors, trap people in repetitive tasks, stifling creativity and productivity.

Meanwhile, time-enriching contributions—like caregiving, volunteering, or community-building—remain undervalued. The result is a society where decision-making is increasingly centralized among those with financial power, undermining the decentralized experimentation that drives progress.

Reframing UBI: Freeing Time to Grow the Pie

UBI is often seen as a safety net. But it’s more—a launchpad to restore time as the currency of progress. By covering essentials like housing, food, and healthcare, UBI frees people from survival-driven labor, unlocking time for pursuits that maximize collective value. Creativity—whether in art, science, caregiving, or problem-solving—is the highest use of free time. UBI unlocks it for everyone.

While some might fear freed time leads to idleness, history shows humans naturally gravitate toward meaning when given the chance.

Time freed by UBI fuels decentralized contributions:

  • Entrepreneurs develop automation tools that reduce repetitive work.

  • Artists and educators spark cultural and intellectual breakthroughs.

  • Community organizers tackle local inefficiencies—like food waste or transit gaps.

UBI isn’t about stepping away from work—it’s about stepping toward better work.
The “more pie” philosophy creates a virtuous cycle: freed time leads to solutions that free more time, expanding everyone’s capacity to innovate, connect, and thrive. Unlike socialism’s centralized mandates, UBI empowers individuals to act on their talents and local needs, scaling progress from the ground up.

Decentralizing Decision-Making Through Time

Centralized systems—corporate, governmental, or financial—often dictate how time and resources are allocated. This slows innovation, stifles initiative, and leaves communities without tools to solve their own problems.

Freeing time through UBI changes that. It decentralizes decision-making by giving individuals the autonomy to choose how to contribute. A programmer might create open-source software that streamlines logistics. A teacher might design curricula that accelerate learning. A parent might launch a neighborhood meal-share network. These local, tailored solutions compound into a larger “pie” of societal value.

We don’t need more meetings—we need more mornings free to think.

A time-centric economy, supported by UBI, would reward efforts that multiply time for others, such as:

  • Technologies that reduce labor intensity (e.g., AI-driven tools).

  • Social structures that minimize red tape and overhead.

  • Cultural norms that treat leisure and creativity as productive, not indulgent.

Innovation scales when time is abundant and authority is distributed.

Challenges and Considerations

Implementing a time-focused UBI model will face real challenges:

  • Funding: UBI requires significant investment. Proposals include wealth taxes, automation dividends, or reallocating inefficient subsidies. The resources exist. Only the will is missing.

  • Cultural Shift: Societies trained to equate money with worth must relearn to value time. The labor movement’s push for the 40-hour workweek redefined productivity. Today, campaigns on platforms like X could normalize valuing time over wealth through storytelling and advocacy.

  • Measurement: Time’s value eludes dollar signs, but its impact—less stress, more breakthroughs—is unmistakable. New metrics like “time saved,” “burnout avoided,” or “creative output enabled” may be needed.

  • Equity: UBI must be designed to reduce—not reinforce—inequalities in access to education, tools, or participation.

Yet the cost of inaction—burnout, inequality, and wasted potential—may be far higher.

Conclusion

The “more pie” vision reframes Universal Basic Income not as charity or redistribution, but as a strategic investment in decentralized progress. By liberating people to pursue meaningful, time-expanding work—especially creative pursuits in art, science, and community—we create a virtuous cycle of innovation and well-being.

A time-rich society could see surges in patents, as in post-automation eras, alongside lower burnout rates and stronger community networks.

This isn’t a handout. It’s a catalyst for creativity and progress.

Restoring the primacy of time requires bold experimentation with UBI, updated incentive structures, and a cultural reawakening to what truly matters. In a world where time is valued above money, we all contribute to a larger, more fulfilling pie.

When time is our currency, every freed hour fuels a brighter future.
The pie doesn’t shrink—it rises.