I don't think BM itself would last, for sure; the scale of the vent is already greater than many people can hold up to. That said, I think the gift economy ele

I don't think BM itself would last, for sure; the scale of the vent is already greater than many people can hold up to. That said, I think the gift economy element itself can be separated from all the rest and would stand up. Maybe the TLDR for my optimism is, Give humans a competition they can take seriously, e.g. because the social status accrued wins real rewards of various kinds–and we will be happy productive and competitive. The part of the UBI skepticism I am eager to see tested pragmatically is that this competition must necessarily be for "that amount of money needed to lead a dignified healthy productive life worth living." IMO the value proposition of the UBI is that we can do have it both ways. Free people from _fear_ first and foremost; then give them a motivation as well. Maybe another way to put this is: keep the carrot, remove the stick. We've learned from evolutions in parenting that sparing the rod leads to better emotionally adjusted [and productive] kids.