4 ms·

It would be much easier to make the case for UBI for particle physicists than for the general population.

• jerf 4y ago
  That's not "UBI" though. That's some funding mechanism that allows for more broad fishing without having to call every shot in advance, and penalizing people who then don't find what they were hoping to find. Though at this point, which is easier between "societal UBI" and "changing how science is funded" is anybody's guess. Nominally, it ought to be the latter, but it may actually be more entrenched....
  • jobs_throwaway 4y ago
    UBI might not be the precise moniker, but I think a UBI that increases with education is a potentially interesting idea. Though I'd worry that we'd get a lot more literature and gender studies PHDs rather than math and physics.
    • bigbillheck 4y ago
      The world needs more humanities scholars as well.
      • SuoDuanDao 4y ago
        What have humanities scholars ever done for me? Granted, some have written books I like, but is there any evidence they wouldn't have done that absent said scholarship?
• jobs_throwaway 4y ago
  Absolutely. I'd be in favor of some sort of graduated UBI for students/postgrads working on fields with broad benefits for humanity. $70k/yr or whatever for physics PHDs to be able to research whatever they fancy in the field would probably be an enormous boon to the economy in the long run. You'd have to build in some safeguards from abuse so that it doesn't turn into essentially a pension, but I think you could figure that bit out.