> Rather than facing fair pay as a practical and ethical problem the industry needs to solve for itself, a hypothetical universal basic income transforms our dr

> Rather than facing fair pay as a practical and ethical problem the industry needs to solve for itself, a hypothetical universal basic income transforms our drama into one instance of a generalized, society-wide problem that government must solve across the board. > This sounds kind of ridiculous, for anyone familiar with government, taxation, or political change. Maybe UBI does sound ridiculous, but it sounds to me about 0.1% as ridiculous as "industry [solving the problem] for itself". The problem here is very analogous to "basic research." Industry simply won't ever fund it because it's not profitable to individual firms. Government can _sometimes_ fund it though. Classic government function: funding public goods. Government's track record is vastly better than industry here. The snark about "anyone familiar with government" is pointed backwards.