Re: jobs apocalypse

On Tue, 23 Jul 2024 12:54:50 -0000 (UTC), Retrograde
<fungus@amongus.com.invalid> wrote:

On 2024-07-19, D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

As far as I can tell by looking around my area, if you gave everyone
a basic/universal minimum income of say $250, they would immediately
purchase and consume $250 of marijuana, alcohol, and cigarettes, and
still be broke/poor/ignorant/needy.
>
I have no faith in the human race.  Ignorant angry thunder monkeys.
>

>
Well, I'd say everyone -1 since I doubt that you would do that. ;)

>
I appreciate the vote of confidence but I'd probably do the same thing.
Angry thunder monkey +1.

Sam Altman's basic income experiment finds that money can indeed buy
happiness
...
...

Though the Y Combinator study's results published on July 21, 2024,
are generally positive and show the benefits of a no-strings-attached
cash payment, not everything was a net positive.

Take, for example, the fact that recipients were more likely to visit
the hospital, see a specialist, go to the dentist, and cut down on
excess alcohol and drug use - those are all great results, except they
didn't lead to a net improvement in participant health.

"On average we do not find direct evidence of greater access to
healthcare or improvements in physical and mental health," the
researchers say in the report. For many participants, "the additional
$1,000 per month alone may not be sufficient to overcome the larger
systemic barriers to healthcare access and reduce health disparities."

In other words, UBI is just one piece of the puzzle that is lifting
the conditions of the poorest Americans.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/23/sam_altman_basic_income/