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Ask YC: Any Updates on the Basic Income Project?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask YC: Any Updates on the Basic Income Project?

#21

Post by jbpetersen »

anondon wrote: post #19
sama wrote: post #17

We've started giving money to a small pilot group. We're still working out the kinks but expanding it slowly. The plan is still to run the pilot until we're confident everything is working well (especially with issues like making sure no one loses eligibility for income-based benefits) and then start the full-scale study.

What is the status of the MOOC? When can we expect additional details? YC should consider writing the occasional blog post about the projects it's working, it would be interesting to follow and the feedback from HN might be useful.

Perhaps something like status.ycombinator.com for the briefly summarized current states of various things?

Re: Ask YC: Any Updates on the Basic Income Project?

#22

Post by home_boi »

There would need to be at least ~50-60 years before evaluation of the results

There needs to be at least 2 generations that have had UBI for their entire life. UBI affects the motivation to work on skills, so the subject would need UBI for their entire life.

The parents of the subject also needs to have UBI for their entire life because the parents could transmit the scarcity, pre-UBI mindset onto the subject. There is a still chance that the pre-UBI mindset of the grandparents could be transmitted to the subject. Ideally the subject would be at least 3-4 generations removed from the start of UBI

Re: Ask YC: Any Updates on the Basic Income Project?

#23

Post by jbpetersen »

saycheese wrote: post #8
runesoerensen wrote: post #2

"Please don't post on HN to ask or tell us something (e.g. to ask us questions about Y Combinator, or to ask or complain about moderation)" https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

If YC is going to use HN to promote themselves, seems only fair to allow the community to query them via HN.

There needs to be an "Ask YC" weekly.

It'd also make for a great way to nudge the community in the desired direction by focusing attention (and away from becoming what's effectively a standalone subreddit).

Re: Ask YC: Any Updates on the Basic Income Project?

#24

Post by robertelder »

home_boi wrote: post #22

There would need to be at least ~50-60 years before evaluation of the results There needs to be at least 2 generations that have had UBI for their entire life. UBI affects the motivation to work on skills, so the subject would need UBI for their entire life. The parents of the subject also needs to have UBI for their entire life because the parents could transmit the scarcity, pre-UBI mindset onto the subject. There…

I came to the same conclusion when thinking about this too. It might even make sense to counsel people too about what they can do with the extra time/money. There are a lot of amazing things to do in the world, but most people will always try to emulate their immediate environment.

For some people, I would expect they would end up getting hooked on something unwholesome (drugs for example) with their newfound free time. You could probably make a huge difference in this just by suggesting the right things at the right times.

Re: Ask YC: Any Updates on the Basic Income Project?

#25

Post by sama »

anondon wrote: post #19
sama wrote: post #17

We've started giving money to a small pilot group. We're still working out the kinks but expanding it slowly. The plan is still to run the pilot until we're confident everything is working well (especially with issues like making sure no one loses eligibility for income-based benefits) and then start the full-scale study.

What is the status of the MOOC? When can we expect additional details? YC should consider writing the occasional blog post about the projects it's working, it would be interesting to follow and the feedback from HN might be useful.

We'll announce details on structure and timing in January.

Good idea; I may try something like a "State of YC" update once every 3-6 months.

Re: Ask YC: Any Updates on the Basic Income Project?

#26

Post by patrickg_zill »

runesoerensen wrote: post #2

"Please don't post on HN to ask or tell us something (e.g. to ask us questions about Y Combinator, or to ask or complain about moderation)" https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Correct me if I am wrong, but user "sama" is Sam Altman, President of YC; so if he answers instead of killing the thread, I would guess he is OK with it.

Re: Ask YC: Any Updates on the Basic Income Project?

#27

Post by cookiecaper »

anondon wrote: post #19
sama wrote: post #17

We've started giving money to a small pilot group. We're still working out the kinks but expanding it slowly. The plan is still to run the pilot until we're confident everything is working well (especially with issues like making sure no one loses eligibility for income-based benefits) and then start the full-scale study.

What is the status of the MOOC? When can we expect additional details? YC should consider writing the occasional blog post about the projects it's working, it would be interesting to follow and the feedback from HN might be useful.

Would YC really be upfront about the success or failure of this experiment? Most people are shy enough about failures in professional contexts where impacts are isolated to the company itself. The outcome of this pilot has real potential political ramifications, further disincentivizing those who're committed to basic income (as YC obviously is) from revealing any serious flaws or difficulties experienced, beyond the typical already-pretty-strong impulse to keep failed experiments under wraps (and when they are discussed, to generalize and gloss over the more painful/sticky parts).

I know we all admire YC here, but let's be practical about it. They're not going to drum up any more bad press for themselves than necessary.

Re: Ask YC: Any Updates on the Basic Income Project?

#28

Post by thereisnospork »

home_boi wrote: post #22

There would need to be at least ~50-60 years before evaluation of the results There needs to be at least 2 generations that have had UBI for their entire life. UBI affects the motivation to work on skills, so the subject would need UBI for their entire life. The parents of the subject also needs to have UBI for their entire life because the parents could transmit the scarcity, pre-UBI mindset onto the subject. There…

While not exactly the same, wouldn't the children/grandchildren of lottery winners/successful entrepreneurs/old money provide a reasonable proxy? People having been 'gifted' allowances/trust funds over a few generations is hardly unprecedented in modern history.

Re: Ask YC: Any Updates on the Basic Income Project?

#29

Post by freen »

thereisnospork wrote: post #28
home_boi wrote: post #22

There would need to be at least ~50-60 years before evaluation of the results There needs to be at least 2 generations that have had UBI for their entire life. UBI affects the motivation to work on skills, so the subject would need UBI for their entire life. The parents of the subject also needs to have UBI for their entire life because the parents could transmit the scarcity, pre-UBI mindset onto the subject. There…

While not exactly the same, wouldn't the children/grandchildren of lottery winners/successful entrepreneurs/old money provide a reasonable proxy? People having been 'gifted' allowances/trust funds over a few generations is hardly unprecedented in modern history.

No, because they are a substantial abberation from the norm, which is essential to what the BGI attempts to achieve.
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