Rutger Bregman, the author who suggests working only fifteen hours a week

At 33 years old, the Dutch Rutger Bregman is a historian and author of five books on history, philosophy and economics, He has also been nominated twice for European Press Award for his work in The Correspondent. Their books Humankind: A Hopeful History (2020) and Utopia for Realists (2017) were bestsellers the New York Times and translated into more than 40 languages.

In 2019, this same medium dedicated an outstanding profile to him in its Saturday edition, where they mention him as part of a broader wave of young activists, thinkers and politicians which also includes Greta Thunbergthe 19-year-old climate protester, whose radical suggestions have begun to gain mainstream acceptance. “The whole spirit of the times is changing”Bregman said.

Many of the author’s solutions strongly oppose the current trend, for example, suggests instituting a universal basic income for all that covers the minimum expenses of subsistence and that the working week should be reduced to fifteen hours, open the borders and allow migrants to move where they choose.

“I heard for three years that many of my ideas are unrealistic and unreasonable and that we cannot afford them”, he says, as a preamble to a more complete answer. “And the simple answer is ‘oh, do you want to stick to status quo? How has that been working?‘” he commented to TheGuardian.

in his book Utopia for realists supports his thesis by telling readers how a basic income universal (a concept now considered far-fetched) in fact almost introduced to the United States during the Nixon presidency and how Milton Friedman, the neoliberal economist, supported one version of it.

Bregman is also a kind of internal historian at The Correspondent, a Dutch media innovator whose reporters are encouraged to take their time, write about topics outside of the news cycle and keeping his readers informed of his investigations, a routine with which Bregman felt comfortable since thinks the media is saturated with intentionally negative information that distorts the vision of reality. He works as an academic researcher, immersing himself for weeks in political history like universal basic income, popping up every month or so with a new item.

However, he is not immune to certain doubts, New York Times. But ultimately he argues that Only by dreaming of what seems unattainable can society make good things possible. “It is quite clear that in 30 yearsthings will be considered common sense that today are considered completely strangeBregman said.

“The question is: Will the story move in the right direction? And I’m not sure about that. PBut I’m doing my best to contribute”.