Universal Basic Income -- Where's the purpose?

Universal Basic Income is getting a lot of attention again these days. While I think it's part of a solution, it's missing a crucial element: People need a sense of purpose in their lives. Separately, a lot of people have trouble finding that sense of purpose on their own. Put together, this means that in parallel to any basic income program, we will need to create social institutions that appeal to people's notions of achievement, provider roles, community, and social feedback mechanisms.

This could be a wide variety of things that provide a sense of community and achievement -- everything from sports (or e-sports) to group creative productions (eg theatre) to something like the Renaissance Faire economy, in which artisans create handmade medieval-inspired crafts and sell them to one another, with tourist dollars propping up the overall system.

I think it's great to liberate people from shitty and exploitative jobs. So i'm not against UBI!

However, I also think it needs to be rolled out in conjunction with social structures that help people who are having trouble finding a purpose in life or who are dealing with other issues (eg depression, hopelessness, limited social support etc).

I think most of the people we know would do great under UBI, but the US does cultivate a special ethos around starting new endeavours, and that makes it easier to envision a UBI world for ourselves and the people we know. There's also less of a stigma around unemployment in the US -- people call it "funemployment" and then travel the world, get fit, or work on artistic pursuits. I'm not sure if that fully holds up nationwide, especially in depressed rural communities that are struggling with crumbling social institutions, hopelessness, and addiction.

I believe Universal Basic Income (UBI) alone won't solve the social issues that may be brought on by joblessness due to automation.

Last weekend I realised that there's a country that had full UBI for roughly a 30 year period. Nauru is a small island in the South Pacific that had massive phosphorous deposits. Income from mining these deposits was distributed to all citizens, and from roughly 1970-2000, residents enjoyed enormous wealth. Unfortunately, this didn't result in an artistic renaissance with everyone's leisure time -- instead it led to a lot of unhealthy behaviour, substance abuse, and reduced lifespan.

While different cultures and individuals will likely react differently to UBI, I believe Nauru is evidence that UBI is not sufficient to help society deal with automation-induced joblessness. I think what will be needed in a lot of cases is a path toward having a sense of purpose. Some people can find a sense of purpose on their own, but many cannot. I believe UBI will need to be paired with a set of enticing social structures that help keep people engaged in fulfilling pursuits.

Full Story on Nauru here : https://www.news.com.au/travel/destinations/pacific/naurus-downfall-from-rich-nation-to-poverty/news-story/3581ef431e354cab655054ca0f4959af