I read Utopia for Realists earlier this year. A big portion of it is about UBI and is a great read for anybody new to this topic. The thing that surprised me the most is that we were fairly close in the USA in having something similar, this was under Nixon. UBI seems to not really be that left of an idea as i assumed it was. If you are too poor you are effectively costing the country more money than it would cost to just help those to be able to work/spend money themselves.

In my city there was a citizen initiative to have a test run last year, but sadly opposing parties ran a disinformation campaign against it. Saying we already have enough studies that show its not worth it. (Which is a flat out lie, but I guess you can interpret studies as you wish). Most people fell for it. I think for politicians its just too easy to have big enough portion of people uneducated and too busy with their 9-5 jobs so they do not realize how they are being taken advantage off.

EDIT: I do think though that one form of UBI is the future as well, its just a matter of when. But I might also be too much of an optimist. Or maybe we could also just get rid of advertisement that would work as well. Splitting the real work thats then left to do.

If Sam Altman pushes hard enough for it.

UBI is the future if we are allowed peace.

WW3 in an apocalyptic scale is much more likely. Don't need to feed the obsolete peasants if they're all dead.

It should but it won’t.

Yes, but not in the way we envision it.

Wealth inequality will increase. Drastically. There will be a small group of people owning basically everything. But they still need cheap labor and subjects, plus someone needs to consume their products. Because jobs will be limited UBI will be implemented: as a baseline to keep us alive, not as a tool for general prosperity.

Watch "Elysium" how this bleak world may look. It's not a great movie, but has that "everyone but a few people is super fucked"-theme locked down.

When UBI starts being seriously considered on a large scale, you’ll likely see a massive influence campaign against it. Something along the lines of “If you give people free money, they’ll never get a job.” It will likely have racial undertones that range from subtle and implicit to wildly explicit, depending on the forum.

If low information working class people, those who would benefit the most from such a program, fall for that campaign, as they often do, you’ll see a backlash against it that could prevent it from becoming law.

The rich have done everything they can to increase wealth inequality and brainwash the public into acceptance. That will not be reversed. If they allow UBI it will be below poverty levels and highly conditional.

The wealthy want slaves. Its a mental illness with them. Black people. Underage sex trafficking. Working poor. Robots. Last thing they want is a utopia where everyone is healthy, happy and financially independent.

One of the wealthiest countries in the world doesn't even have proper healthcare system in 2026. No way are those dumb fucks getting a UBI. Its a lie.

No. Total war is our future. Then maybe, but we won't be alive by then

If we replaced all of our current welfare systems with a simple UBI, it would save us money. In terms of running the system, and simplifying taxes. Don't need to take 5 different taxes out of your paycheck, just one. Earn over a certain amount? You don't get it. The majority of people won't, because they'll be earning enough to pay in but not collect. This would have to be done alongside universal healthcare, as tying healthcare to employment wouldn't work much anymore, which would also save us a massive amount of money.

The result of which, is an absolute explosion of creative genius and new businesses. People no longer hindered by the threat of starving in the street, or losing their healthcare, would finally be able to start that business they always wanted to. They'd be able to create their long-overdue masterpiece. Literature, art, new inventions. There's a guy out there right now that, if given the space and a bit of assistance, could create the first prototype of a warp drive. There's someone else who has a pretty good idea about how to cure dementia, and halt the aging process.

Just imagine the possibilities of actually investing in our people, and in our society, instead of handing all of our money to billionaires, and letting those evil mentally handicapped fuckwits steer the course of humanity straight into a climate change-driven mass-extinction event.

Just Imagine.

UBI to me is a leftist pipe dream of how a post-scarcity society could work. When you actually look at the financials and how greedy humanity is, it all falls apart and will either bankrupt entire nations or pay an absolute pittance.

The UK's voluntary living wage is £13.45 an hour, which translates to £26,227.50 for someone working full time 37.5 hours a week. If we replaced our entire welfare system (state pensions, Universal Credit, child benefit, Personal Independence Payments, Disability Living Allowance, etc) and paid our approx 58.1 million population of working age people and retirees the living wage, it would cost us over £1.5 trillion, or roughly half our annual GDP. Our current welfare expenditure by comparison is at an estimated £333.7 billion.

I am using the Living Wage as a comparison since it's an agreed metric calculated by a non-profit organisation for how much a worker would need to earn to live on their wage in the UK. To pay a living wage to every adult in the country we would need to spend nearly three times as much as what the USA spends on its military.

The question then becomes "How the fuck will we pay for it?" We can't even get the rich to pay their fair share of tax as things stand. They are going to flat-out refuse to foot the bill once AI leads to mass unemployment.

What I think is a more likely scenario is societal collapse. People starve, leading to widespread civil unrest and then a brutal and violent crackdown, made easier than ever by armed drones and humanoid robots that have no sense of morals. This is exactly the kind of doomsday scenario that a lot of billionaires are prepping for.

The only way I can see humanity not ripping itself apart is if automation somehow makes the cost of living so cheap that UBI could viably exist.

Yes, but only because your question implies there is a future for humanity, and I believe UBI is realistically one of the few ways humanity even gets a future

I don't honestly think it will happen in a way that is genuinely good for people. It will happen in a way where the rich and powerful are in control and can use it as a method for maintaining control.

UBI is a bandaid to keep capitalism propped up by neo-liberals. It's contingent on the idea that society is dependent on people spending money, rather than getting essential services and enough free time to maintain mental stability.

The billionaires would have to fund it, and I don’t believe for a second they wouldn’t leave us all to starve.

No. Once the people have the time and leisure to think and mingle they might find out who the real source of the problem is. So it's better to keep your slaves busy and struggling to keep the roof over their head and their belly not empty.

No because corps and oligarchs will campaign against it, inexplicably win, and destroy one of the country's greatest achievements with cheers and applause

Its cynical, but its happened to many social programs thay way.

It should be. Also the NIT (Negative Income Tax) so the taxing scheme becomes progressive, rather than regressive. Though I know I'm asking too much because capitalism...