alt Hacker NewsI too think Basic Income is a necessity. I don't think it can happen in the US (for cultural reasons) but I think elsewhere it can work. (And indeed in many places it kinda, sorta, already does).
>> That would enable the authors, activists and hackers to pursue what's meaningful
I would counsel not using the word "meaningful" in the context of BI. We already have a way of evaluating "meaningful", it's called "money". If society gets to judge what is meaningful or not, well, that's the system we currently have.
BI is about letting people do whatever they like especially if it is meaningless. BI implies an economy (you have to spend the Income on something) so meaningful will always be richly rewarded.
Incidentally publishers exist to act as curators and filters. The value they add is real. There's no shortage of self-published stuff on say Amazon, but 99% of it is drivel. I go into a bookshop to find the 1% that at least someone thinks is worth reading.
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I disagree with your definition of meaningful here. Society's willingness to pay is certainly a signal for meaning in an output but it seems quite inaccurate. Think of the number of artists and thinkers that weren't recognised in their lifetimes, their work was still meaningful but society hadn't discovered it yet.
Similarly, there are a number of things that would be incredibly meaningful to all of society (eradication of disease, nuclear fusion, etc) that we choose to deprioritise to instead eat fois gras and fight.
Sorry to jump down your throat on this, we're on the same side, I think BI is inevitable and worthwhile. But it's worth pointing out that BI enables more than just the meaningless things.
> We already have a way of evaluating "meaningful", it's called "money".
This is a mechanism that’s very narrow and creates notable distortions between financial and artistic value, just to keep the example specific enough.
> I don't think it can happen in the US (for cultural reasons)
Cultural reasons are just a matter of spindoctoring/propaganda.
Nixon almost implemented a form of UBI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Assistance_Plan
In Alaska there's already a form of UBI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund