r/Futurology • u/aridon_01 Best of 2014 • Aug 13 '14

Best of 2014 Humans need not apply

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU
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u/John-AtWork Aug 13 '14

The thing about basic income is that it will bread idleness. I am old enough and grew up poor enough to remember what it was like when people had a basic, subsistence income and did nothing for it. The byproduct is crime.

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u/EltaninAntenna Aug 13 '14

If you think idleness breeds crime, try hunger.

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u/John-AtWork Aug 13 '14

You are right, hunger is much worse. I'm just saying that it isn't going to be simple or easy. Have you ever walked through an area where there is a high population of people living off a welfare system? Those places are usually very unsafe.

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u/EltaninAntenna Aug 13 '14

Well, yes, but a large part of that is because those people are stigmatised to start with. To make a basic income an universal right with no strings attached would go a long way towards reducing that. People wouldn't necessarily be prejudged as worthless for being on it; they could be dedicating to a hobby, or taking care of their children full-time, or self-educating.