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0 pointswtvanhest10y ago0 comments

This research is an awesome thing that YC could give to the world.

I do have a few very specific, big concern though:

>We're open to doing this in either one geographic area, or nationally distributed.

In order for this research to having meaning, we would need to see how the costs of things, especially real estate prices are impacted. One argument against basic income is that it would inflate the prices of basic goods and provide no real benefit. It would be worth spending a lot to figure that out.

Also...

> 50 years from now, I think it will seem ridiculous that we used fear of not being able to eat as a way to motivate people.

I love this statement, but the need to eat has been driving human beings for a very long time. It would be a truly profound statement if we could prove this.

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hellodevnull10y ago· 1 in thread

>I love this statement, but the need to eat has been driving human beings for a very long time. It would be a truly profound statement if we could prove this.

You could look to many European countries for an answer. The unemployed receive welfare, now tell me how many of those are still motivated enough to do anything when there's no fear of hunger. Are these people happy receiving enough welfare to live a modest life, or do they strive to do more?

wtvanhestOP10y ago

I have no idea. That is exactly why someone needs to research it. Fortunately for all of us, YC has stepped in to provide some funding for the research.

My gut tells me that if societies could work with basic income, someone would have figured it out a long time ago. There have been a lot of societies after all and people have tried a lot of different things. On the other hand, my gut is wrong sometimes. I think it is super interesting that we may get some well thought out research about this that we can hopefully use to do more research and maybe someday come up with a better system.

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