> I would like to bring back SROs* in walkable, mixed-used neighborhoods and improve public transit and cycling infrastructure, and make food stamps more or less a "You want them? Just ask." kind of thing. I think if we had sufficiently cheap housing where you could comfortably live without a car and you could be guaranteed to eat, that would be a better means to provide the social stability and social mobility that UBI proponents seem to be shooting for with what is, in my opinion, a thoroughly broken mental model for a long list of reasons.

Ya, I am a HUGE fan of reconsidering fundamentals.

Have you ever noticed that almost no one considers the current way we do things to be immutable, as if it had been passed down from God himself? Like when people are talking about what we should do about homeless people, and how we can't house them because that would cost too much money.....like, might it be possible that there's something in between sleeping on the sidewalk and a condo? If we were to look around the world or even in our own history, might we notice that there is a broad spectrum of forms of housing? This very simple principle applies everywhere - I swear, it seems to me like I live on a planet of walking zombies with a thin layer of personality over top. If people just arrived here on Earth (but with the same computational horsepower), do you think everyone would find things as acceptable and non-batshit-insane as they do now, after slowly simmering in this insane broth for an entire lifetime?

> There are already programs to grant "geniuses" money. I'm cool with that. Those programs generally seem to have a thorough selection process, something this article very much lacks.

And what do they produce: more of the same, well within the boundaries of the Overton Window.

> We are awash in vast societal wealth. We need to find better ways to put in a floor for "everybody" (while recognizing that no matter what you do, some people will be "problem children" and you will need to find ways to cut them out so as to try to force them to behave) while making sure we aren't destroying society in the process.

You should come visit Canada - here, we "are" "better" than the Americans with their small-minded selfishness....meanwhile, our super duper "free" medical system is falling apart, people are dying in hallways waiting for treatment, tent cities are now common across the country, and so forth and so on. Simultaneously, 30% or so of the population have become (multi-)millionaires based on being in the right place at the right time: buying real estate. And the kicker: no capital gains tax for one's primary residence - that is considered craaaaaaaazy to both rich and poor, whereas having to kick 40% of your hard earned income into the kitty is "just common sense, thou shalt not question it".

> I don't actually understand what you are asking. You would need to clarify.

As far as I can tell: not only do humans have near zero self-awareness, they have an extremely strong aversion to the very notion.

I believe things are much worse than they appear on the surface - were it not for the boosts we've enjoyed from science, engineering, plentiful commodities (a state of affairs that is not guaranteed), and formerly "ok" leadership, I think we'd be much more fucked than we are....a situation that I believe we are going to see start to seriously manifest in the next few decades, if not sooner. I would not be surprised if things started unravelling even in the next few years.