I don't know how much it would even sway things. Rather than fear of financial ruin, you now have fear of having some of your best income earning years squander

I don't know how much it would even sway things. Rather than fear of financial ruin, you now have fear of having some of your best income earning years squandered doing something less fruitful. This is fear enough to keep people out of certain fields entirely today, especially if the payoff is late and uncertain relative to other more lucrative things you can be doing in your 20s and early 30s. Even today, people do live like this, cheaply on a "basic" income to grind out a dream. Only instead of relying on ubi, they work part time at a restaurant while waiting for more work in their field to line up in the meanwhile perhaps, and take on roommates to cut rent in half or more. Would UBI mean those people no longer have to wait tables? Sure, but its not like the struggling actor suddenly gets more phone calls when they call off work for their other job, since they are taking the restaurant job in the first place because they have so much free time between jobs they might as well monetize it. Plus, someone has to wait the tables at the end of the day.