4 ms·

My suggestion is that they are different sets of curves. We're interested in the properties of ice, and they are going to study the properties of tap water tha

by _rpd 11y ago

My suggestion is that they are different sets of curves. We're interested in the properties of ice, and they are going to study the properties of tap water that has been put in the refrigerator for half an hour. You and I will have delightful conversations attempting to divine the properties of ice from chilled water, but political activists will declare ice fully characterized and of low viscosity while denouncing the "phase change" theory as a bourgeois boogieman. Inflationary spirals are no joke. Some degree of caution is in order before deliberately engineering one.

Ntrails 11y ago
Can you briefly run through how this will engineer an inflationary spiral? With no information on the replacement ratio this offers vs existing social security costs, and no indication of how it would be funded in a full implementation I can't see the inevitability.
- _rpd 11y ago
  The basics are that the price of inelastic goods (housing, food) will rise to absorb any disposable portion of basic income, resulting in calls for increased basic income (using "living wage" rhetoric) and a positive feedback loop. I'm assuming inelastic goods aren't price controlled (creates intolerable shortages) and that basic income does increase disposable income. There are revenue neutral versions of basic income sometimes proposed by conservatives - dismantle social security and distribute the proceeds - but I don't think those versions are what most advocates have in mind when they call for basic income.
scarmig 11y ago
Well, since phase changes are just discontinuities in some thermodynamic variable, I think it's fair to say we're in violent agreement =) I take your point that political activists will misuse any information that comes from this, but they'll misuse anything, even--or especially--the lack of evidence, so I'm not sure that's compelling one choice or another.
- _rpd 11y ago
  I guess I'm wondering if there is something clever we can do to get good information about the key questions - get closer to actually studying "ice" - but perhaps it isn't possible.

by _rpd 11y ago

Ntrails 11y ago

Can you briefly run through how this will engineer an inflationary spiral? With no information on the replacement ratio this offers vs existing social security costs, and no indication of how it would be funded in a full implementation I can't see the inevitability.

_rpd 11y ago
The basics are that the price of inelastic goods (housing, food) will rise to absorb any disposable portion of basic income, resulting in calls for increased basic income (using "living wage" rhetoric) and a positive feedback loop. I'm assuming inelastic goods aren't price controlled (creates intolerable shortages) and that basic income does increase disposable income. There are revenue neutral versions of basic income sometimes proposed by conservatives - dismantle social security and distribute the proceeds - but I don't think those versions are what most advocates have in mind when they call for basic income.

scarmig 11y ago

Well, since phase changes are just discontinuities in some thermodynamic variable, I think it's fair to say we're in violent agreement =) I take your point that political activists will misuse any information that comes from this, but they'll misuse anything, even--or especially--the lack of evidence, so I'm not sure that's compelling one choice or another.

_rpd 11y ago
I guess I'm wondering if there is something clever we can do to get good information about the key questions - get closer to actually studying "ice" - but perhaps it isn't possible.