[NotMichaelBay]

UBI feels like a natural solution to what I assume is a ubiquitous problem in the workforce: A certain percentage of people are absolutely worthless in their job, and everyone would be better off if we just paid those people to stay home.

[drivebyhooting]

Even if you’re competent and useful, work is an incredible sacrifice. Perhaps only 10% of workers (the most unattached and lacking in obligations) would voluntarily work. For example for parents there are only a litany of bad choices available. If UBI is offered, why would most people suffer through their work sacrifices.

[goosejuice]

Because UBI and negative income tax doesn't provide the same lifestyle as working. It's a floor, no-one is proposing UBI at middle class salaries.

[drivebyhooting]

Lots of people are proposing UBI as a solution to AI displacing knowledge workers. Which of course is patently ridiculous.

[Schmerika]

> Perhaps only 10% of workers (the most unattached and lacking in obligations) would voluntarily work.

That's not even close to true. Basically every study on UBI, everywhere, has shown that either more people work, or employment stays about the same, but in each case happiness and health go up vs the control.

Since it's very clear you haven't researched your claim whatsoever - why are you making it? Why would you say something so wrong with so much confidence?

[brainwad]

All those studies are flawed because they are always a few years of sub-subsistence income. Of course most people rationally don't drastically change their employment in response to that - as expected per the permanent income hypothesis. A permanent, liveable UBI would be quite another beast.

[Schmerika]

If humans only work so that they can live, and wouldn't ever work if they didn't have to - then why do so many of our best inventions and advances come from people who didn't give a toss about profit?

If we have the technological means and capability to reduce employment to 10% - why wouldn't we?

Is it so impossible to imagine a world where people only work when they want to? Where the jobs that "no one would do if they weren't desperate" just pay very well instead?

Also, if you really think every UBI study is fundamentally flawed, feel free to design and run your own. Until then, maybe you could do better than waving a hand and invoking a hypothesis to try and invalidate literally every study that speaks against your claim, lol.

[brainwad]

Lots of people enjoy working on high skill, fulfilling jobs like inventing things. Few people love working menial labour jobs. AI will probably take the former jobs but leave the latter, which will still need to be done. If everyone gets a decent UBI, how will we allocate these unfulfilling but necessary jobs?

> Also, if you really think every UBI study is fundamentally flawed, feel free to design and run your own.

All temporary studies are fundamentally flawed, because people act based on their permanent lifetime income. It's not like I can design it better, it's just not something that can easily be studied (on any reasonable time scale).