a universal basic income won’t stop people from working
A bit offtopic, but I came to the same conclusion during a somewhat philosophical discussion with a friend who expressed skepticism with the increased automation aspect of the world, and we extrapolated this into a hypothetical world where almost everything was automated.
His concern was that one day humanity could find themselves dependent on an automated system over which they had no control.
My response, being a bit of a techno-optimist, was that:
- We kind of already do
- Someone has to keep this system running
- Even if I was paid an UBI, I would still like to be part of #2.
I’m the kind of guy who makes the little gears spin so that the cog can turn, and I derive entertainment from reviving broken complex systems, and I wouldn’t want it any other way
I completely agree. I tinker and change my PC to parts because it’s fun. Did it make a difference to performance? Kinda. Was the effort put forth because of performance alone? No. People like making Legos and just put them on a shelf. There are consumer products where the customer is paying to do the work themselves for little gain above the fun of the journey. Why wouldn’t it expand to many other areas? And if there’s not enough people willing to do something, make it worth their while to fix it, but that’s already a problem and UBI isn’t the big smoking gun people claim it to be.
