In the Age of Basic Income, PUNKVISM Asks What Comes After Survival
PUNKVISM | Founder & CEO | Special Interview
Some of the world’s most influential thinkers and technology leaders are sounding the same warning: within the next three years, hundreds of millions of jobs may disappear. As a possible response, basic income has emerged as one of the most discussed alternatives. Yet one Korean entrepreneur is asking a different question: “If money is guaranteed, will humans truly be happy?” We spoke with Hyunki Hwang, Founder and CEO of PUNKVISM, a company building a Web3 digital nation, about the world that may come after human labor.
Reporter: What kind of company is PUNKVISM?
Hyunki Hwang: PUNKVISM is a company built around three core questions. The first is the circulation of capital: how can we help capital flow more efficiently toward valuable companies? When capital does not stop, but continues to move, new opportunities and world-changing ideas can emerge faster.
The second is the end of value monopolization. We want to return value to individuals – value that has traditionally been captured by large intermediaries such as banks and platforms.
The third is the most important. We are focused on filling the fundamental human void that money alone cannot satisfy: the desire to be recognized, and the desire to achieve something meaningful. Basic income can support survival, but it cannot fill that deeper absence. PUNKVISM aims to complete that missing layer through a digital nation where citizens contribute, prove their value, and receive recognition from the community.
Reporter: Why is this question so urgent now?
Hyunki Hwang: Because the world is changing at a structural level. Three major shifts are arriving at the same time. AI and robotics are beginning to replace human labor. Human life expectancy may extend toward 150 years. And the foundation of finance is moving onto blockchain infrastructure. Even the United States is now bringing stablecoins into the institutional financial system. Both labor and money are entering an era that requires entirely new rules.
Reporter: What is your view on basic income?
Hyunki Hwang: I agree with the direction of basic income itself. In an era where hundreds of millions of jobs could disappear, it may become inevitable for society to guarantee a minimum level of income for survival. But the real issue begins after that.
When basic income is first introduced, many people may celebrate it as the arrival of a utopia. After all, people may be able to live without working. But will that truly be enough? My answer is no.
Reporter: Why do you say no?
Hyunki Hwang: Because humans are beings that need recognition and achievement. People need to feel that they are needed by someone, and that they have accomplished something meaningful. When those feelings disappear, people begin to see themselves as unnecessary.
In a society with no mechanism for recognition or achievement, can human relationships truly remain intact? I believe even the most basic relationships, including family and marriage, could begin to break down. Survival alone does not make humans happy. In fact, once survival is secured, the question “Why am I living?” may confront everyone more directly than ever before.
Reporter: Was there a personal moment that made this issue feel real to you?
Hyunki Hwang: My son is ten years old now. In ten years, he will be twenty. If human life expectancy eventually extends beyond 150 years, then my son may have to live more than 100 years in a world where human labor has largely disappeared.
What will he do with that time? How will he live? This is not an abstract future to me. It is my child’s reality. Yet very few Korean companies are seriously confronting this question. That is one of the reasons I created PUNKVISM.
Reporter: How do global thinkers view this future?
Hyunki Hwang: Yuval Noah Harari has warned that a massive “useless class” could emerge – people pushed out of the labor system who may end up spending their time through drugs and entertainment. It is a vision of life where survival is provided, but meaning is not.
I take that warning seriously. But I do not want to stop there. The question is: what should fill that empty space? That is the work PUNKVISM is trying to take on.
Reporter: Then what do you believe can fill that void?
Hyunki Hwang: Ultimately, I believe the answer is community. Recognition and achievement cannot exist in isolation. To recognize someone, and to be recognized by someone, both happen only between people.
That is why PUNKVISM will focus on strengthening community. Every person carries a different kind of absence. Some seek recognition. Some seek belonging. Some seek learning or achievement. Within a strong community, people can help fill those different absences for one another.
One person’s contribution can fill another person’s void, and that value can return through recognition, reward, and deeper connection. Instead of killing time through drugs and entertainment, people can become necessary to one another again within a living community.
Reporter: What specific model is PUNKVISM building?
Hyunki Hwang: Our model is the “completion of human absence.” We are building a digital nation where citizens contribute voluntarily, and where the system verifies and records those contributions.
If basic income provides survival, PUNKVISM aims to build recognition, achievement, and relationships on top of it. It is a structure where a person’s actions are recorded, rewarded, and recognized within the community.
Inside that structure, people connect by filling one another’s absences. We call those people Punkyvists.
Reporter: Any final message?
Hyunki Hwang: There is only one reason we are building this larger vision: the belief that we must challenge an unreasonable world.
Technology may soon solve the problem of survival. But the real question comes after that: what will we do, and who will we live with?
PUNKVISM wants to be the company that asks that question first – and answers it by building a strong community where people help complete one another’s absence.
PUNKVISM | PUNKVISM Holdings Co., Ltd. | https://punkvism.io
