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Interesting. I have no desire to dump on UBI -- I want to see how these various experiments pan out -- but I am reminded of a thought experiment. Imagine it's

Interesting. I have no desire to dump on UBI -- I want to see how these various experiments pan out -- but I am reminded of a thought experiment. Imagine it's 10,000 years ago. You arrive in pre-history with all of the technology of today: electricity, communication, medicine, automation, and so on. Your mission? To destroy mankind. Assuming infinite resources, how would you go about doing it? Sure, you could build out an infrastructure, create a robotic army, and begin hunting humans down. Or, you could build out about the same amount of infrastructure and just give people whatever they want: food, housing, warmth, and so on. After all, what would a bunch of hunter-gathers really want? It'd probably be easier than hunting them all down and fighting them. As long as you're not under any time pressure, what's the difference between killing them immediately and waiting four or five hundred years for them to stop breeding? The premise of UBI is that this would not eventually eliminate the species, that individuals here and there would still learn new skills and advance knowledge. The main criticism of UBI (aside from the moral one) is that while stress and struggle for individuals can be a terrible thing, for the species as a whole it results in evolutionary survival. It will be interesting to watch these populations over time to see how adaptive they are compared with control groups.

skybrian 10y ago
Oh come on, what is this crap? You are talking about people like they're almost subhuman. People more more adaptable than that. Maybe not everyone, but at least some will take any advantage they get and put it to good use, and the rest will follow. "Primitive" people are most likely smarter and harder working than you. Surviving off hunting is not easy - you have to know a lot about the environment you're in. Also, historically many scientists were well off people who did it as a hobby. By this theory they should have done nothing with their lives.
- DanielBMarkham 10y ago
  "...You are talking about people like they're almost subhuman...." Anything but. The fact is, I am not looking at individuals. I am looking at the population. A population is not a human. You make a good point. When we talk about UBI, the relevant examples should be the independently wealthy. Many have done great things with their lives. Some have destroyed themselves. Some have had positive effects on others, encouraging them to also do better. Some have had negative effects on others, causing despair or disillusionment. Why the difference? Beats me. So let's experiment. On a personal level, we should always be kind and treat people with respect and love. But that doesn't make any of these population questions go away.

skybrian 10y ago

Oh come on, what is this crap? You are talking about people like they're almost subhuman. People more more adaptable than that. Maybe not everyone, but at least some will take any advantage they get and put it to good use, and the rest will follow. "Primitive" people are most likely smarter and harder working than you. Surviving off hunting is not easy - you have to know a lot about the environment you're in. Also, historically many scientists were well off people who did it as a hobby. By this theory they should have done nothing with their lives.

DanielBMarkham 10y ago
"...You are talking about people like they're almost subhuman...." Anything but. The fact is, I am not looking at individuals. I am looking at the population. A population is not a human. You make a good point. When we talk about UBI, the relevant examples should be the independently wealthy. Many have done great things with their lives. Some have destroyed themselves. Some have had positive effects on others, encouraging them to also do better. Some have had negative effects on others, causing despair or disillusionment. Why the difference? Beats me. So let's experiment. On a personal level, we should always be kind and treat people with respect and love. But that doesn't make any of these population questions go away.