People are just realizing now we’ve become the cows needed to legeitimize the capital that is milked back out of us. I agree though that UBI is just trying to juice that feedback loop in the most superficial way possible. Like cows deciding that more hay and hormones will somehow free them. (It won’t)
Well it relies on a fair and properly functioning democracy. We have a very corrupt system at the moment, people don't get what they want because politicians are bought and paid for by their donors. We need adequate defenses against this in our system, then it stops being anything to do with the altruism of the elite, because the majority regular folks are going to continue voting for the UBI or other benefits.
The other balance is the threat of revolution. Keep the population happy enough or they'll come for you.
Removing the gated community effect would also help. If the rich have to use the same services as the rest of us, then they have an incentive to ensure those services are well run. If large inheritances are effectively taxed away, then they have to ensure society provides a good platform for their children. Etc.
For that, there need to be consequences for politicians that screw up. There aren't. Actually, nowhere do we even have a real democracy. A regular person has no say in anything at all.
One possible counter is that people may have more free time to spend engaging in politics. Once one need is satisfied attention will inevitably shift. Mazlow's hierarchy and all that.
One of the main reasons people give when I ask them why they don’t pay attention to politics is that they don’t have any time or energy or willpower left to do so after working 40+ hours a week doing largely meaningless, soul-crushing tasks.
What you're missing is that not everyone will be qualified to do those tougher new jobs. Especially the people who are now working at McDonalds, as cashiers, etc.
Also to your credit, the environment (you grow up in) does have an effect on you significantly, and it shapes what about you is drawn out as well as what information you have to begin with. Someone growing up in the ghetto isn't going to understand the life of the gentry in France. Someone with poor education isn't going to see why they need math for life (until maybe too late).
In short, we all start with a decent brain and a certain wiring. Environment draws out or suppresses who we are, but more importantly, gives us starting information to work with, and this shapes our views and ways of thinking.
there is a fundamental error in how you are thinking about this
Lobbyists matter more for issues where most people don't have a direct interest and/or aren't paying attention. UBI by its nature would have a very large constituency, once people are getting the checks.
That said, I agree that partial UBI would be better to start, but more for reasons of affordability and not changing the economy too quickly.
So billionaires and the AARP both get their way most likely at the cost of future generations.
1) Automation is going to make the concept of jobs obsolete. Therefore most of the population will simply die of poverty if we don't artificially redistribute all of the wealth.
2) Many people today are stuck in poverty because they're too financially stretched to pay for healthcare, education, a car to get to work, childcare, etc., even while spending all extra time working multiple jobs. The hope is that by giving them a life raft, they'll have the leeway to spend time, money, and energy on self-betterment, and thereby enrich the economy.
My argument is that #1 sounds good but doesn't seem robust against a few powerful bad actors. #2, though, could be quite effective.
Exactly the same thing could be said about slaves.
> ..., which gives us power.
Which didn't give them much power though.
It worked okay at the height of industrial era, but worse and worse ever since. Nothing good happens if you let people who bear no real responsibility for anything, to make decisions. Only property owners should vote.
That's a good slogan for starting a war. One day, people like you will have their land taken from them. Will they still feel the same way?
The fact is, if you take away a person's vote, they have no voice AT ALL in their government. The vote actually happens to be the last thing PREVENTING war because the fact is, everyone would like to do what they want and not have other people tell them how to live. We have government to prevent people from hurting each other and doing mean things to each other, and though it may not be all that effective, anarchy never works and always ends in some kind of oligarchy.
People go to war whenever things are taken from them. Land, property, rights, etc. They are happy when things are given to them. Bread, circuses, etc. So if you want to start a war, take from people. If you want to prevent it, give to them.
Now, this also assumes that people become literally useless in the automated future, compared to systems. It's possible - if unlikely - that humans always move on to a higher frontier of uniquely human work once the previous one becomes automated. In that scenario, UBI could be a great way to ride that transition. Also, partial UBI, meant only to give people a platform for growth in a world that still has jobs for them, could be a good way to combat economic inequality.