[stefantalpalaru]

> "Our current social system has produced astonishing wealth. [...]"

In Europe the main problem in agriculture is overproduction so farmers sometimes get payed to leave some land uncultivated and hard limits are imposed on the production of milk and on the import of bovine meat. This is not a place where we'll starve because everybody will start painting and sculpting all of a sudden.

[zhemao]

Of course we won't starve, but just having enough food to go around is a pretty low bar for a society in which people can live comfortably. The working classes in the developing world today generally don't starve, but no one would say they have particularly comfortable living conditions. What jerf is saying that, in the absence of full robot automation, a society in which we have guaranteed basic income will make us poorer. The question is "how much poorer"?

[infinite8s]

There are a large number of people in the 'working' class (at least in the US) who are struggling daily to make enough money to be able to feed a family. They aren't starving as yet, but it just takes a small unfortunate incident to push them over the edge into spiraling poverty.