If society values innovation (questionable!), UBI totally makes sense. How many skilled, capable people are working bad jobs or are afraid to start a venture because they're concerned about ending up on the street? Safety nets encourage risk taking, and risk taking is necessary for innovation. This always gets characterized as subsidizing free-loaders, but perhaps naively, I think most people want to have an impact on the world, and you don't need to threaten them with starvation to get them to do important work. You only need to threaten them with starvation if you're asking them to work against their interests.