RE: A somewhat Dystopian overview of Universal Basic Income ( UBI )
Oh dear, this is a pesimistic view isn't it.
You don't give people much credit here do you? Whilst I agree there are plenty of potato's out there I like to think that for the majority of people you are being too sceptical - If you have as little faith in people as this article suggests then you must think we're pretty much doomed already with or without a UBI.
Truth is I think the majority of your problems (expressed here) with the UBI are not with the UBI at all but rather the powers that be that would be responsible for distributing it. The solution to the problem of entrenched power will certainly not be the UBI but we shouldn't write it off because it doesn't solve all soceities problems,
Personally I think that finding innovative solutions to the funding for the UBI could help reduce the inequality and power grabbing that you appear most concerned with. I have ideas how this could be done but I'll be doing a video on it at some point so I won't share those ideas here.
Nice, thought provoking article anyway even if the thoughts you express are down on people. Have faith my friend, in the words of John Lennon - we can work it out.
Doomed is very contextual. My version of doomed might be different than yours and some might even consider both versions paradise. I'm sceptical not pessimistic: if people desire more than they should have it but most are quite happy to scrape by with the bare minimum.
UBI might solve some problems and create still more problems. The goal of public policy is to anticipate these future problems and mitigate them by figuring out smart policies. Showering people with money for absolutely no reason is not smart policy. It has few incentives built into the system and it creates far too many expectations. High levels of taxation are a constant complaint of many but if UBI was implemented tax would rise in order to generate the funds required.
Definitely, but those solutions are few and far in between. Awesome I look forward to your video! Followed :)
Also, the definition of what constitutes a "potato" would vary depending on the specific requirements of a society.