It reminded me a sci-fi book by Strugatsky brothers (of Stalker/Roadside picnic fame) which is called "Monday begins of Saturday". It's a funny novel about wor

It reminded me a sci-fi book by Strugatsky brothers (of Stalker/Roadside picnic fame) which is called "Monday begins of Saturday". It's a funny novel about working in what were called Research Institutes(НИИ) in USSR. So all kinds of supposedly smart people were spending their lives there in order to advance "scientific progress". I see it as basically UBI but with some strings and bureucracy attached. Depending who you ask, but it had so many problems.