>>just giving people money for pursuing whatever makes them happy? A basic income guarantee seems like a much more reasonable solution
Because recent history suggests, when offered money/stuff/income gurantee for free:
a. In the eyes of the individual receiving money, the value, importance and the perceived hard work that had to be done to earn it, as time passes, tends to zero.
b. A vast majority of people tend just take the money and chill doing nothing, while wanting others to work and make more free stuff/money for them.
c. Because a few people tend to do nothing and keep the status quo going, other people who like to break the norm and make value/money are immediately perceived as heretics who break the 'equal misery for all' norm and are perceived as evil.
d. Brilliant, hard working and creative people like to work with people of their own kind and generally go and live at places where they can find them. And such places always exist.
e. 'Right to free stuff' generally becomes the norm after a while and people who the real work are expected to make over the skies sacrifices and offer bulk of what they do 'for greater good of society'.
f. Equality for all in general tends toward, equal misery for all. Over big periods of time.
Aside from being generally inaccurate, your points completely ignore the fact that we are talking about the future, not the present. Specifically, we are talking about a future in which there is simply no useful "work" for most people to do.
Could you be a little more specific? What "recent history" are you talking about? As far as I am aware some basic income experiments proved to be successful. See Mincome for example.
Because recent history suggests, when offered money/stuff/income gurantee for free:
a. In the eyes of the individual receiving money, the value, importance and the perceived hard work that had to be done to earn it, as time passes, tends to zero.
b. A vast majority of people tend just take the money and chill doing nothing, while wanting others to work and make more free stuff/money for them.
c. Because a few people tend to do nothing and keep the status quo going, other people who like to break the norm and make value/money are immediately perceived as heretics who break the 'equal misery for all' norm and are perceived as evil.
d. Brilliant, hard working and creative people like to work with people of their own kind and generally go and live at places where they can find them. And such places always exist.
e. 'Right to free stuff' generally becomes the norm after a while and people who the real work are expected to make over the skies sacrifices and offer bulk of what they do 'for greater good of society'.
f. Equality for all in general tends toward, equal misery for all. Over big periods of time.