>> I dunno, it's all speculation of course, but I'd say my 'usefulness' has gone up once I didn't have to bow to my bosses' whims. It's hard to quantify that, of course, but even if I go for a quantifiable measure, I'm probably more of a benefit to society than otherwise: I've been working on various business ideas that could improve the efficiency of other businesses, my volunteering reduced the burden I put on my country's health care system (on account of needing less therapy), and possibly reduced the effect on others around me. The money I make doing 'extra' work, that I wouldn't have to do, has benefitted my younger siblings who in turn might benefit society.
> Why can't you do that now, by starting your own business and being your own boss?
I can, because I ended up in a situation where I basically have the equivalent of UBI. My point is that it is indeed what I'm doing, and I believe others would too, given the opportunity.
>> Personally I don't like this kind of thinking though. I'm convinced that a decent chunk of the population is just driven to do and create in a way that is valuable to other parts of the population. Trying to reduce this to 2xUBI is somewhat futile, and honestly not a society I want to actively encourage. In fact, engaging with this thought strikes me as already a bit of a needless capitulation. How much money could we save by reducing the pointless corporate work, military spending, etc, and how does UBI relate to that? At least for a significant experiment I suspect it's not much.
> We can verify this by observing people who are currently not working and are getting welfare. Somehow, very few of them do so. Some even avoid doing real work (you have to actively look for a job here if you want to receive welfare), by literally coming to interviews and saying that they're there just for the 'stamp' (proof they were there).
As I said before/elsewhere, I think this is transitional effect. Not only is welfare avoided by those who would be productive anyways, the very stigma and context of welfare can encourage 'doing nothing'. It's a bit like your employer allowing you to work from home: at first, it's quite likely you'll abuse this freedom to not wear pants all day and pretend to work. I truly believe that changing this to a 'default', over time, makes it less common for the majority of people to actively do nothing. People hate doing nothing by nature.
>> I think what I'm driving at is that this 'working' and 'not working' would be redefined. So much work is busiwork. So much 'work' is very tenuously measurably good for society. And, conversely, so much 'work' is not really considered work, but crucial to a functioning society.
> But stuff we deem "crucial" (by our own, individual standards), we're also willing to pay for. Water, food, entertainment, cars, gadget, clothes, vacations, travel, books, music, perfumes, etc. Is something really crucial, if noone wants to pay for that? If someone is willing to pay 100euros for a stinky alcohol-water mix (perfume), and they're not willing to pay for your work, is your work crucial?
Most people don't want to pay for love, and yet here we are. Most people don't want to pay for a (good) family, and here we are.
Reducing crucial to 'what people are willing to pay for' is, even on a cursory inspection, complete bullshit that nobody who isn't extremely dysfunctional actually lives by.
>> How much money could we save by reducing the pointless corporate work, military spending, etc, and how does UBI relate to that?
> Corporations are paying their own money for that work... they'd be the one saving, not you. Military spending can still be lowered, and workers would get to keep more of their own money, why does it have to be given to non-workers? (i'm not talking bout disabled people, etc, i'm talking about able-bodied people, who are able to work, but would choose not to).
I'm saying the difference between workers and non-workers is something we need to re-assess. You're sort of getting there by making a distinction between 'disabled' and 'able-bodied'. Those are not clear distinctions. Is someone with mental health issues that prevent them from being able to deal with workplace stress 'able-bodied'? Or 'disabled'? What if we experimentally try to do away with that distinction and provide UBI and see how things go?