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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @fourrules 3h \ on: A mass extinction of the have-nots coming soon? ideasfromtheedge
This is spot on. The closest we will ever get to UBI is COVID stimulus, and we saw the inflation of asset prices and consumer goods. If AI takes most jobs it is more likely to end our system of government than to result in any kind of basic income.
Democracy is a temporary interlude, ye interregnum where civil war is rendered non-violent, licensing a group to enact violence on behalf of the state on citizens in order to maintain the illusion of peace. In a majoritarian democracy one vote is a proxy for a gun that would be used if the democratic peace were to fall. Women are given the vote because the men with the guns need them and they therefore have influence. The old and infirm have votes because they have experience, influence, and other skills in case of renewed violence.
But now we have consensus collapse so the peace is unstable. If jobs are decimated then the peace will unravel, as states will no longer have a monopoly on either the monetary system or violence, rendering them entirely redundant.
In the case of a civil war you need to pay fighters, but you can't pay them in a fiat token if they are not certain that you will win. You need to pay them in something that they can still use in case you lose and they have to escape. So if a UBI is distributed it will just drive up the price of an equivalent digital token that they have complete sovereignty over.
In the case of violence all of the weapons come from other countries where they are manufactured. Literally anyone can access cheap weapons now, whether from Russia or China or Iran, given a sufficient degree of organisation, which is granted by the stability of the non-state monetary system.
So if the "far right" or any unsanctioned parties were to legitimately win but not allowed to govern they would have absolutely no reason not to turn over the table and declare the end of the democratic experiment.
The best case scenario is a distributed participation income system that makes it worthwhile for the people with the capital to put down their guns and accept a new model for the welfare system that is market-based and not administered by a self-interested bureaucracy.