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Timwi | 1 month ago

> Is there a better way?

Yes, UBI. Then you can create what you want and your livelihood doesn't depend on it going viral.

discuss

order

pfannkuchen|1 month ago

How do we ensure that we don’t enter the failure mode of “not enough necessities get made”?

Like it seems like people are ideologically for or against UBI, but I’ve never seen anyone discuss how the mechanism would avoid this outcome. Like I’m not saying it’s 100% the outcome that would happen on whatever time frame, just that even e.g. a 10% chance of that happening would make it too risky to attempt at scale. And like I don’t accept “some people just love farming” or “a lot of stuff that isn’t needed gets made now”, I need an actual mechanism description.

yetihehe|29 days ago

> How do we ensure that we don’t enter the failure mode of “not enough necessities get made”?

Pay higher when someone does things. UBI + income. If you want to live better, try doing something that will bring you money, but if you fail, you can still live and try something other next time.

Current model: if you try something and fail, you are homeless and starving.

scotty79|29 days ago

Necessities get made because there's someone to buy them. Only 5% of people are employed in agriculture and 15% in manufacturing. 80% of working people could do nothing and we'd still be fine when it comes to necessities. And we don't even have peak automation.

polshaw|29 days ago

UBI discussion invariably is way off the mark. The only thing UBI solves is how to give out the money, which is a massive misdirection, the real problem is how to get the money. Do you gut the state and allow people who don't work to have enough money to barely survive as an underclass, or do you end billionaires and usher in a new renaissance where all needs are met and labour shall just be at our whim. These two vastly different visions are both UBI, but most discussion about UBI completely sidesteps that as it requires touching upon the more difficult issues.

Once you have control of the money to give out, literally every way of redistribution is as good as UBI. If you calculate how much money would be required for a reasonable UBI.. then imagine what could be done if that money was spent on communal, humane, services then it would be able to revolutionise the world every bit as much.

OCASMv2|1 month ago

Nah, that just turns people into slaves of whoever is signing the checks.

thrance|1 month ago

Unlike now?

wavemode|1 month ago

Most people want a lot more out of life than basic necessities.

Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe|1 month ago

UBI does not mean you don't work, nor you can't earn a lot of money. It just means we don't let you starve if you don't work and we stop making you work out of fear of leaving you starve if you don't.

I'm a psychiatry resident and developper. I have never been paid for my dev work but have produced quite a lot on my free time (site: w.olicorne.org ). I would do psychiatry pretty much no matter how much I'm paid for it.

In my view the most productive people of every field are not incentivized by money and would do it anyway. UBI would free up time and cognitive load of the most productive people I believe. Following a 80/20 kinda rule.

Hence UBI here would mean that the dev would not *have to* monetize.

djeastm|1 month ago

Indeed. Some of us want basic necessities provided to everyone.

BudgieInWA|29 days ago

That's why it works, lol. Those already driven by the bet paying off still have their incentives, and those who would love to try something ... can! Because they don't have overdue bills to pay with extra interest.

brainwad|29 days ago

People already freak out about the sustainability of the welfare state supporting just the elderly with worker-dependent ratios of 3:1 or 2:1. Imagine if also all the working age population got welfare, it'd be completely unworkable.

wartywhoa23|29 days ago

...and rather depends on the whims of the feeding hand instead.

Like, haven't got your 22nd cocksuckie virus booster? Get lost and die from hunger.

fragmede|1 month ago

what does UBI have to do with getting paid for making cool shit?

thunderfork|1 month ago

You can make cool shit without having to do the work of productizing and monetizing it