The Rich Douchebag's Approach to Basic Income

Post by pashapiro » Thu, Jul 14, 2016, 10:47 AM UTC

darkstar999 wrote: post #10

pashapiro wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. You pretty much nailed it. The exact intent is what you describe plus "make people that read HN laugh". If some of the meaning gets muddied for the sake of comedy, well, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. If it's not funny, well, that's the risk of satire. In any case, I'll keep working on the story.

I also thought it was great. I think people are put off because they hate the character.

Yeah, the darkness is a big part of the point. You should feel sort of dirty when you're done reading it, but still be able to see that an entity driven by greed can provide a social good.

Ideally, a good basic income program would provide a mix of incentives to maximize both social and economic good. The story challenges the reader to consider even the slimiest, scummiest greed as an incentive.

Post by Uhhrrr » Mon, Jul 18, 2016, 10:10 PM UTC

darkstar999 wrote: post #3

Uhhrrr wrote: post #2

There are are reasons to be skeptical of BI, but the author is willfully misunderstanding what it is ("all profits go to me"???) and being an asshole about it.

> willfully misunderstanding what it is ("all profits go to me"???) It's an analogy. Rich douchebag = taxpayers. Grad students = agency that manages the program. Whores = those accepting basic income The "profit" of basic income would go to us, the taxpayers, and to humanity as a whole. Or not! We don't know yet. > being an asshole about it You didn't see the big flashing neon sign? Or the fact that the author is a s…

The "profit" in real BI would mostly go to the recipients, with the government only getting the usual IRS cut, and taxpayers likely not getting it directly.

The analogy also doesn't work because you also have the rich douchebag investing venture capital and buying board seats and laying people off. Taxpayers don't do that.

Also, semantically, calling those who accept basic income "whores" is not going to serve the goal of promoting basic income.

Also, the BI in the story only goes to those earning "close to the median income."

Etc, etc. There are so many ways this piece fails: Getting the facts right on BI, as an analogy, as satire, and as a pro-BI piece.

Re: The Rich Douchebag's Approach to Basic Income

Re: The Rich Douchebag's Approach to Basic Income