Dr. David Bell explains the devastation he saw in communities living on guaranteed income and why the same model is quietly being imported into the West.
"A population that no longer expects autonomy is a population that won’t miss it when it’s gone." got me thinking about the way the indigenous population is managed in Canada. I've seen many indigenous communities and what I've seen is poverty, addictions, poor health and they seem to be really stuck in that. They don't seem able to rise above the dependency on government money and many prefer to waste their time rather than develop themselves. They get special status that other taxpaying Canadians don't and they take advantage of that by selling cheap gas, cannabis and tobacco products. They get to hunt and fish where others don't.
It seems the government has put them on a pedestal and it's absurd how far it's gone: hundreds of church burnings and statue topplings, for instance after a false claim of mass graves was publicized by the media.
The government has created this divide where the dependent indigenous feel entitled and resentful of the "white colonists" and the rest of society suffers and is impoverished as well.
I think the indigenous have lost their "purpose" by accepted dependency. It's a failed model, a failed policy to give them "money for nothing" so to speak. They need an incentive to better themselves and we need to bridge the gap in cultures with a better understanding of human nature.
Some form of UBI is unavoidable and frankly, in some respects we are already there. A large segment of the population is unable or unwilling to take care of themselves and occupy their time productively.
Historically, we had some safety valves. We had frontiers to expand into. Huge swathes of the population were wiped out in warfare over and over. We had lots of menial labor that needed doing.
Presently, the only hope for a new frontier is space and that is a long time away from being practical. Automation has taken over in the areas of warfare and quickly eliminating drudgery.
Just wishing for people to be motivated and capable of self determination is a pipe dream. The idea that all people are capable of "higher purpose" and "self actualization"is ludicrous. We have tried the bread and circus idea and it failed. We tried the opiates of the masses, both metaphorically and literally. We have tried providing education. We have tried incarceration. We have even (as a species) gone so far as extermination. The latest "new idea" of social credit has no more chance of success than the less humane incarceration and shunning have had in the past.
But even UBI is merely a stop-gap measure. It is far too tempting to sit around watching the success of those who will produce and deciding that it is much easier to just take what they have by force than it is to produce it yourself. Defending against it takes a degree of callousness and disregard as well.
Your statement:
"A population that no longer expects autonomy is a population that won’t miss it when it’s gone." got me thinking about the way the indigenous population is managed in Canada. I've seen many indigenous communities and what I've seen is poverty, addictions, poor health and they seem to be really stuck in that. They don't seem able to rise above the dependency on government money and many prefer to waste their time rather than develop themselves. They get special status that other taxpaying Canadians don't and they take advantage of that by selling cheap gas, cannabis and tobacco products. They get to hunt and fish where others don't.
It seems the government has put them on a pedestal and it's absurd how far it's gone: hundreds of church burnings and statue topplings, for instance after a false claim of mass graves was publicized by the media.
The government has created this divide where the dependent indigenous feel entitled and resentful of the "white colonists" and the rest of society suffers and is impoverished as well.
I think the indigenous have lost their "purpose" by accepted dependency. It's a failed model, a failed policy to give them "money for nothing" so to speak. They need an incentive to better themselves and we need to bridge the gap in cultures with a better understanding of human nature.
Some form of UBI is unavoidable and frankly, in some respects we are already there. A large segment of the population is unable or unwilling to take care of themselves and occupy their time productively.
Historically, we had some safety valves. We had frontiers to expand into. Huge swathes of the population were wiped out in warfare over and over. We had lots of menial labor that needed doing.
Presently, the only hope for a new frontier is space and that is a long time away from being practical. Automation has taken over in the areas of warfare and quickly eliminating drudgery.
Just wishing for people to be motivated and capable of self determination is a pipe dream. The idea that all people are capable of "higher purpose" and "self actualization"is ludicrous. We have tried the bread and circus idea and it failed. We tried the opiates of the masses, both metaphorically and literally. We have tried providing education. We have tried incarceration. We have even (as a species) gone so far as extermination. The latest "new idea" of social credit has no more chance of success than the less humane incarceration and shunning have had in the past.
But even UBI is merely a stop-gap measure. It is far too tempting to sit around watching the success of those who will produce and deciding that it is much easier to just take what they have by force than it is to produce it yourself. Defending against it takes a degree of callousness and disregard as well.