alt Hacker NewsUniversal basic income is dystopic. It's a way of finally making everyone completely dependent on the government. It's a Brave New World kind of dystopy.
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Interesting perspective.
To me it makes you more dependent on the other people in your society - only if you don't earn more than the BI of course.
That is true under Western Capitalism too, you're already dependent on your society, unless you filter and pump your own water; grow your own food; generate your own power; make your own devices; school your own children; do your own healthcare, etc.
For those reliant on BI, instead of greed being the moderator through which your income is determined, it is determined through the democratic processes of state.
Now, if your have an oligarchic dictatorship like USA and Russia, sure you'd need to be particularly worried if you were relying on BI. If you've got a strong democracy (probably true of any country with state-run services that are competitively priced) then BI should work if there's enough total income that it can be redistributed.
I think there are problems with BI though.
Are you independent of your government yet?
I am dependend on government not giving subsidies to my competition. I am dependend on them not to raise taxes. I even depend on them for keeping the infrastrukture alive. If I cant trust the state I life in, it is time to move to a different state.