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All you have to do is ask yourself, if you were getting this basic sum, would you be content to do nothing? The answer is probably no. I would do something, som

All you have to do is ask yourself, if you were getting this basic sum, would you be content to do nothing? The answer is probably no. I would do something, some kind of job, as would many people. If only for their sense of self worth / self esteem. I believe that almost everyone would get a job even though a basic income means they don't have to. Also keep in mind, that no matter what you do, there will ALWAYS be people who refuse to work. You could make unemployment punishable by death, you still wouldn't be able to force those people who don't want to work to do something. That's just the way it is. So the only thing you can really do is pay them to stay out of the way and not cause any problems. This is cheaper than buying a gun and being eternally vigilant, or paying for security measures. Severe disincentives to crime aren't as useful as you think, because those committing the crimes do so because they don't think they will be caught. Look at some of the absolutely medieval penalties they have in the middle east for various crimes, and yet they still have criminals.

jiggy2011 13y ago
You might be surprised. A friend of mine who is a very smart guy got laid of from his job with a bunch of redundancy money. All he did was sit and play WoW until the money started to run out and then went out and got another job. If you can do whatever you want, you will probably want to do stuff that makes you happy. One of those things will probably not be reporting to a boss or person to whom you are accountable but that accountability is an essential part of the economic feedback loop that tells you that what you are doing is a good use of time.
- BillyMaize 13y ago
  This. I am an engineer and work hard because I enjoy the feeling of success as well as the wealth, but for many people (I believe most) this is not the case. On both sides of my family most heavily use government aid when they can and don't care about being successful but simply about getting by. My brother is obsessed with WoW and doesn't care about his future and my mother is perfectly content to just watch TV all day every day while my dad takes care of them both. Enjoying hard work is something you learn and is a feeling that the HN community seems to believe everyone has when really we are in the minority.
  - shiven 13y ago
    So, to put it in a crass manner: Poor == Lazy ???
    - BillyMaize 13y ago
      No... I'm saying that while we on the HN community like to believe that everyone makes honest effort to do great things with their careers most people work to make a living, and if given the option of not having to work and still make a living that they would choose not to work. I myself might consider from time to time not working if I could do so with a decent livable income and I think the majority of people would be OK with the basics if it meant they had all of their time to themselves.
ctdonath 13y ago
A LOT of kids finishing school would be quite content getting cheap housing, eating junk, and playing video games or hanging out all day every day. The longer they do, the less incentive to be productive. I wouldn't "do nothing", but before meeting my wife I was on track to reducing my expenses to near zero with intention of "going off the grid" with vanishingly little interaction with & contribution to society. BTW, a suitable gun is about US$500 - a lot cheaper than paying people enough to not hurt you.
- aperrien 13y ago
  A weapon for self defense as a last resort is fine, but I'd also want a good social net as well. The problem with self-reliance for security is that eventually, you must sleep.

jiggy2011 13y ago

You might be surprised. A friend of mine who is a very smart guy got laid of from his job with a bunch of redundancy money. All he did was sit and play WoW until the money started to run out and then went out and got another job. If you can do whatever you want, you will probably want to do stuff that makes you happy. One of those things will probably not be reporting to a boss or person to whom you are accountable but that accountability is an essential part of the economic feedback loop that tells you that what you are doing is a good use of time.

BillyMaize 13y ago
This. I am an engineer and work hard because I enjoy the feeling of success as well as the wealth, but for many people (I believe most) this is not the case. On both sides of my family most heavily use government aid when they can and don't care about being successful but simply about getting by. My brother is obsessed with WoW and doesn't care about his future and my mother is perfectly content to just watch TV all day every day while my dad takes care of them both. Enjoying hard work is something you learn and is a feeling that the HN community seems to believe everyone has when really we are in the minority.
- shiven 13y ago
  So, to put it in a crass manner: Poor == Lazy ???
  - BillyMaize 13y ago
    No... I'm saying that while we on the HN community like to believe that everyone makes honest effort to do great things with their careers most people work to make a living, and if given the option of not having to work and still make a living that they would choose not to work. I myself might consider from time to time not working if I could do so with a decent livable income and I think the majority of people would be OK with the basics if it meant they had all of their time to themselves.

ctdonath 13y ago

A LOT of kids finishing school would be quite content getting cheap housing, eating junk, and playing video games or hanging out all day every day. The longer they do, the less incentive to be productive. I wouldn't "do nothing", but before meeting my wife I was on track to reducing my expenses to near zero with intention of "going off the grid" with vanishingly little interaction with & contribution to society. BTW, a suitable gun is about US$500 - a lot cheaper than paying people enough to not hurt you.

aperrien 13y ago
A weapon for self defense as a last resort is fine, but I'd also want a good social net as well. The problem with self-reliance for security is that eventually, you must sleep.