Different people have different ideas of what a basic income is. The definition I first learned is that the "basic" in basic income means that it forms a base upon which you can build further in come. It's not about satisfying some level of basic needs. It can be any amount as long as everyone gets it unconditionally.

There's an optimal amount of basic income for social prosperity and it would be an amazing coincidence if that amount happened to be exactly enough to provide for people's basic needs and nothing more.

I agree that basic income won't kill ambition. But I don't think it's because we're withholding money from people. It's because people are naturally ambitious and competitive. Just because you have wealth doesn't mean you don't want more.

Maybe some people won't be ambitious, but that's not exactly a problem for those of us who are.

> Contrast to welfare where if you earn anything the welfare is taken away.

Yeah. I agree with you on this part.

"Basic" does not mean the same thing everywhere.

In Germany part of the basic rights granted by law is human dignity. Part of human dignity is participation in culture and society. As such the closest thing germany has to UBI includes a budget to permit participation in culture.