(i.e. evolve its own culture and make it hard for a child born in a poor area to leave)
Joking aside, I'd be really interested to see what happens in an economy where starting a business is easy because you don't have to worry about it covering your basic needs. I'd imagine many people within ghettos would finally be able to leave and seek opportunities elsewhere, or be able to create their own opportunities within their current situation.
Would some people sit around not working while spending money on drugs or booze? Of course. But those people exist already. I'd be interested to see how the ratio of these types of folks compares before and after BI, and also the ratio of people making money from jobs vs self-created small businesses.
I really want another country to try this out =]. Not saying I don't want it for the US (I do, and if nothing else than for an interesting experiment), but I really don't see that happening with the weird fear we have of anything even remotely perceived as socialism/communism.
BI lowers the bar from "people okay with sustenance farming" to "people okay with roughing it." In the extreme case the only tether needed is a dirt road or body of water suitable for a delivery vehicle to bring supplies[1].
You might ask who would be willing to break off from mainstream American culture so severely, and I think the easy answer is religions and cults. It could be this isn't as bad as I think - perhaps the cultural and religious development done in these communities would be valuable - but the point of this argument was to bring up something unexpected.
[1] Coordinating the exchange of the BI for the supplies could be arranged in various ways. I think clever people will find loopholes and thus there isn't a practical way to force people to be present in "civilized" areas.
I think that cultural islands such as GP is worried about would not be entirely or even substantially broken down by any educational system.
On the margin, basic income should make it easier to move, rather than getting stuck in one place because you're out of funds. I'd guess that applies to children too (when they grow up).
I think overall the net positive effect of BI probably counteracts the concerns above - but it will be interesting to see if such a phenomenon develops in Finland.