Hello Steemit, been on the platform a bit over a month now and have yet to do a contest. So here it is. I want to join the Steem Basic Income project, and as their rules say I need to sponsor somebody, send over one Steem, then we are both in. So I thought I would run a contest to choose a person to sponsor. I will also throw in two SBD’s. I will also give two SBDs to the second-place winner.
So just to be clear:
First prize: free entry to Steem Basic Income plus two SBDs
Second prize: two SBD’s
Altogether four SBDs I’m giving away, a little less than the money you see in the picture for this post I know.
Your Task
Write in three sentences or less why you think a universal basic income is a good idea. You can write why you think it’s a bad idea if you want to, but you probably won’t win because it is my contest and I think it’s a great idea! Unless you write something really convincing.
I will go first. ‘I think improving artificial intelligence and robotics is going to take over a huge number of jobs. I know in the past that new innovations usually created more jobs than they eliminated, but I’m not convinced that is going to be the case this time. Unless we want to see the world’s first trillionaires standing on top of a pile of the unemployed we need a universal basic income. ‘
Feel free to write funny answers, serious answers, about your families, your countries or yourselves.
Write your answers in the comments, I will pick the winners on this Sunday, 13 May.
Update Sunday 13 May
Time to announce the winners of the competition.
It was difficult for me to choose the winners, a lot of people entered and there were many good answers. Here are the criteria I used to choose the winners:
Criteria 1: Stick to the three sentence limit. There were some very well written longer answers, but for awarding the prizes I only considered the ones within this limit.
Criteria 2: Make strong arguments including some more original ones that most people didn’t think of.
Criteria 3: Answer is well written and structured, author obviously put some thought and effort into it.
Here are the two answers I chose:
Second place was the15minutementor
‘With the Internet-Of-Things coming, and with the further use of robotics, I see two things need to happen: a) either individuals will need to own robots, responsible for their maintenance for a share of their output, or b) individuals will need an universal income based on the output of machines. However, individuals still need to pursue a passion; otherwise, they will fail to contribute to the arts, humanity, or the benefit of themselves. The power to earn any type of income empowers man to invent, learn, and better his community.’
The winner was agmoore
‘The temptation is to start with a moral argument, but this appeal has never been persuasive to those at the top of the income stream, so we have to address self-interest (of the wealthy). Gross inequality destabilizes governments (see: French and Russian Revolutions), and leads to economic stagnation. A Universal Basic Income will put money in consumers' hands, thus fueling the economy and encouraging civic order.’
Hope you enjoyed the competition. I plan to run some more in the near future, prizes will be a little increased next time. If you are interested, please subscribe to be notified!
I won a contest two months ago and the reward was a @steembasicincome and that was my first time of seeing us, I was curious and goggled it out and was amaze at the Innitiave behind it, this idea pays you for life for the work done on Steemit, Minnows are fed there daily bread with this little income for life.
This also encourages many to contribute more to the Steemit community, it inspires you to write and above all makes you also to think of other ways you can help the community, if someone could think of @steembasicincome then you all can think of another greater things for all mankind.
If we don’t need to fight for survival we can devote more time to creating useful things and building a community. I’m also really happy to see this on Steemit.
Having a universal basic income is a great start to ensuring equality and equity in all aspect finances. If we all earn the same flat rates, there won’t be societal differences and as such societal vices such as crimes will be eliminated.
A lot of crime occurs because of poverty, that's for sure
Besides what you mentioned regarding AI and automation taking jobs away, it is a great priority of any nation to ensure priority to peace in the region. So rather than accumulating wealth, a universal basic income to all common citizens will avoid unrest in the countries.
This reminded me of the French Revolution. The Royal family spending the country's money on decorating their palaces while average people were starving
I was just thinking about this on my ride home today so I am happy to put some thoughts about this on paper.
I do not think a universal basic income is a good idea; I think it is a necessary change to the way we are doing things now. I think there needs to be a restructuring or perhaps an influx of new companies across all industries which are not for-profit, but for-the-people; profits would be spread across workers and communities where they operate. My school district where I'm from is going thru extreme budget difficulties right now as are districts across the country, and residents of my city are still complaining that our property taxes are too high, which they are very high. So where are we going to get this money from? Why doesn't the local Walmart and other businesses that operate in the city help with the schooling and infrastructure of the city they are making record profits in. I agree that more taxes are bad for those who earn for little, but for a cooperation, it is not a person who you are hurting. Maybe the executives, but fuck them. They need to spread the wealth, that is where the money can come from. If Walmart doesn't want to contribute to local schooling and infrastructure than force them to leave somehow legally so mom and pop stores can take its place. This is just an idea I had today, but I am absolutely sure that there exists a system where we can truly be FREE. America represents freedom. Freedom to what, work like a slave and still not be able to make it? This needs to change and I believe strongly that we need to take after Robinhood and take matters into our own hands. It is us against them. Wealth and greed go hand in hand and that mentality needs to change.
I know its more than 3 sentences, I already tried to enroll in steembasicincome but never received anything yet or a confirmation I can recall so I'm not really sure how that works.
I have a vision of somehow innovating a UBI outside of the government, with contributions from all and contributions to all, so we all can live the life we want to, without having to work menial or degrading jobs because we are forced to. In a system where these degrading jobs were only filled by people that WANTED to be there, they would be forced to pay much much more. I don't think someone scrubbing toilets should make $7.25 an hour while some guy in a desk gets to sit on reddit for 5 hours a day getting paid $30 an hour. It should be the opposite.
Walmart is actually a great example. The Walton family (which owns Walmart) is worth $170 billion. Meanwhile thousands of people in the same country are dying from lack of healthcare. I’m a believer in capitalism, but that situation can’t be the best way of doing things. This one family could almost finance a universal basic income in America by themselves!
It is surely not the best way of doing things. I watched a great documentary call The Four Horsemen the other day I highly suggest it.
@flyyingkiwi - Thank you for the contest. UBI is an interesting topic deserving lots of debate. Here are my 3 lines below -
“A lot of crime is committed out of need or necessity, UBI would help eliminate this, making our lives safer. In a world of rising and falling, and sometimes collapsing economies, UBI would help to stabilize economies by providing a constant source of citizen/consumer value-flow back into the economy, a form of value re-cycling. UBI would assist to elevate the human mind and spirit to seek higher good, because when people have little or nothing, they are reduced to anxious struggles to survive, and have little time or motivation to consider the wider world and the future of coming generations.”
I think that the economic argument for UBI ( the way it boosts an economy through increasing consumer spending) might in the end be the strongest argument, as everyone benefits from it, even those at the top.
Thank you for the feedback. My thoughts as well, everyone benefits.
It's a good thing. But the question is can it be done. In poor countries like mine it's never possible.
True. It can only be implemented when a country is rich enough. If artificial intelligence and robotics does continue to improve at current rates, more and more countries will reach a level of wealth where it is possible.
I think that #steembasicincome is a great way to support artist , authist & all creative folks out there, providing content for steem.
With the Internet-Of-Things coming, and with the further use of robotics, I see two things need to happen: a) either individuals will need to own robots, responsible for their maintenance for a share of their output, or b) individuals will need an universal income based on the output of machines. However, individuals still need to pursue a passion; otherwise, they will fail to contribute to the arts, humanity, or the benefit of themselves. The power to earn any type of income empowers man to invent, learn, and better his community.
The need to earn a living provides everyone with a sense of purpose to some degree. If you take that away some people will respond by becoming lazy, unmotivated and unhealthy. It’s a major argument against a universal basic income. One answer is as you said, finding a passion to pursue. That does require some initiative however.
I think that Universal Basic Income would help many people - especially the ones who just starting their adult lifes, to help them easier find their way to happy life, because they could spend more time educating and making decisions what they would like to do in life, they also wouldn't affect so much stress and insecurity related to forced job / unwanted work / employment took from them by more effective robots.
I believe that, as a result, this may not only increased willingness to work and self-development, but also reduce social inequalities, which could result in a greater flow of funds, and thus to the economic growth of the country 👍🔝👌
However I consider, that such additional income should be adequately monitored so that it does not trigger or strengthened bad behaviors in society.
Good point about having the extra security early in life. I think it’s good for young people to take a year off after university and go travelling or something like that. A lot of people don’t get the chance to do that because of pressure to find a job.
Yeah, you're right. Such a trip can be very educative too, because travel broadens our horizons. But it would also help people who for various reasons can't count on the support of their family. I think that thanks to #UBI people could live calmer and happier lives.
It will ensure that there is food on the table all the time. It will ensure the society is a better place. There will be less problems. It will also create a peaceful mind , which would reduce depression and stress , again good for health. See , so there should be a universal basic income. Just like how I don't get any upvotes , and makes me feel super sad , I don't want others to feel that way. Let's create a beautiful tom. 😊😊
I have also known the pain of writing a post and getting two upvotes, one from myself and one from a bot. Getting a few extra votes from SBI would be a big improvement!
Yes truly. Haha 😅😅
It would be great to have a secure vote in all our publications. I've really seen very good posts with 0 and it's sad. On the other hand, with the SBI in another way, they will feel rewarded and encouraged to continue creating
Yes Steemit can be a tough place for plankton. You need to find a community, SBI can be a good start
I think universal basic income or UBI is a good idea because it will shift the world dynamics. This will help with poverty issues especially one like @steembasicincome.
Yeah the problem of inequality is getting worse and worse. Something like universal basic income will be necessary I think.
Yea I hope this will expand beyond Steemit to a more global level
Universal Basic Income is a great idea because everybody alive should have access to food and shelter.
Agreed. Some countries do have social systems that provide those things but most don’t.
I believe that for a UBI to work properly 2 things have to happen. 1 the government has to stay clear of managing and dispersing of funds. Private Charities have been able to do more with less and I feel that more would wind up in the hands of those that would need it most. 2 Individuals would have to have some skin in the game. If it is just a supplemental income for a low wage earner awesome they are working on contributing. But on the inverse some sort of effort would have to be done to ensure that it does not just wind up in complacency. Even if it is just something small such as picking up litter while on a walk or reading to children or the elderly.
As to point one, yes corruption is a huge issue. I think the UBI advocates have done a lot of planning on how it should be distributed and who should do it. I will have to have a read through that sometime. Agree with you completely on point two. I think even if all the jobs which are done today disappear social interaction is something where everyone can provide value and it's hard to imagine machines replacing.
I would love to read some more of this Idea. If you could point to some good references instead of the ramblings of militants I would appreciate it.
Simply put, my answer is i totally agree with your view point plus everyone get thesame opportunity to make a decent liiving.
Capitalism has reached a stage of morbidity, whereby society's ability to produce commodities outweighs its need of labor.
We're reaching a fork in world history, corresponding to science fiction.
Either we live in a world where humans earn a universal basic income, and are thereby free to develop themselves as they see fit, or we enter a hell where we work not for society, but for a politics demanding the continuation of redundant wage slavery.
Fingers crossed for the first. I think if we take a hands off approach the second would naturally occur. The dominant technologies of the future are likely to produced by just a few companies. If we let all the rewards flow to those companies we will see income gaps that will make the situation today look like a paradise
Totally. And this is the case even now. The major tech companies and the major energy companies and the major weapons companies, those are the real leaders of the planet.
I see the Trump presidency as indicative of this whole situation. Not so much as a Russian plant, but as a sign of the political ineptitude of the ruling classes in the U.S. Both their confusion at how to keep the system going, as well as their political ineptitude led to this asshole being where he is now.
And all this happens in the context of climate change. The future is very much Star Trek vs Mad Max. Only the latter will consist of us as the wastelanders and the rich will relax in their enclaves.
American politics has a lot of problems, I think the first change to make is to get money out of politics. Most politicians just serve their donors. At least the future should give plenty of inspiration for horror writing! Checked out your blog, I will enter some of your future competitions. I also have an interest in horror writing.
awesome. I'd be happy if you entered, but I'm not sure when I'll host another.
There's other contests semi-regularly held. Check out @mctiller, @calluna and @tygertyger. You should try contributing something
Thanks for encouraging us to think about this. My three sentences:
The temptation is to start with a moral argument, but this appeal has never been persuasive to those at the top of the income stream, so we have to address self-interest (of the wealthy). Gross inequality destabilizes governments (see: French and Russian Revolutions), and leads to economic stagnation. A Universal Basic Income will put money in consumers' hands, thus fueling the economy and encouraging civic order.
OK. That's my three sentences. I really enjoyed getting that out. I could have gone on. Good thing you had a limit :)
I think that is a good strategy to appeal to the self-interest of the wealthy. That's how policies reliably get implemented. A worrying trend today is that the ability of governments to perform surveillance on the citizens and control them is rapidly increasing. Also the armies of the future might be composed of drones rather than citizens with dubious loyalty to the government. The wealthy might feel like the ability of the peasants to de-stabilise the government is a thing of the past.
You're right--the greater concentration of power we give to the government (always, ironically, on the premise that it increases our security) the greater danger we run that that the government will be tyrannical. And drones (despite my story about #1 and the enamored robot), do not have hearts. They will have no problem shooting civilians. So we go back to the economic argument--an economy grows when money is injected into it. Printed government money doesn't work. That just leads to inflation. Consumers, millions and billions of them, with money to spend, are the best stimulus. Consumption is the fuel that keeps a capitalist economy humming. I think :) My grasp of economics is very, very basic.
I just saw the notice on Steemd that you selected my answer. Thank you. It must be hard to judge between so many good, sincere responses. I'm grateful, for winning and for your generosity in running the contest.
This is a community based on financial incentive, but it is a community. People like you help it to grow. I'll try to do my part.
The award is much appreciated. Thanks again.
UBI is really something I believe in, hopefully as Steemit grows SBI can partially function as a UBI. there was a good discussion on this post, the only thing I felt was lacking a little bit was engagement between people commenting. This is also true on Steemit in general, people mostly just interact with the author. In my next competition I'm going to add a few incentives towards having people interact with each other.
I believe in it too, for all the reasons I said, but mostly because it's right. Every religious tradition endorses the idea of that kind of equity. I'd be happy to participate in the sort of discussion you suggest--I don't want an award. I'd be happy to see your experiment succeed.
Now, obviosly UBI would help in making the poor a little more richer and the wealthy a little more poor. Obviously it will promote some sense of equality and promote a stable lifestyle for all people. But let's look at a few things beyond that.
So, if we look at the life around us today, it has become so money oriented that we are actually losing our culture/values/traditions because no one wants to take the responsibility of taking care of them. And why would they want to, there is no money involved in taking up certain roles in the society that help preserve our existence.
For example, I live in India and 9 out of every 10 kids here either become an engineer or a doctor. Because that's where the money is. Parents here tell you throughout your childhood that how becoming a journalist or a teacher or a musician or an artist will not pay your bills and make you jobless and homeless.
So maybe if UBI is implemented, you'll find more guides at tourist places that actually tell you the history about that place because they're not doing it for money anymore, they're doing it because they're interested in it. UBI would encourage a lot of people to actually do what they love doing. Your streets will be full of happy musicians and artists again. Your schools will be full of teachers who actually love teaching and not the ones who didn't get any other job and ended up being a teacher.
Don't want to make it anymore boring, that's enough.
One of the big questions about UBI is what would people really do with their time if they didn't need to worry about survival. Certainly some people would do the positive things you mentioned, but how many would do drugs or just play games all day? It's really hard to predict how people would use this freedom.
Interesting point.
But I have a question for you.
Would you rather have people dying by doing drugs?(the person who is doing drugs has full control over his/her situation and is responsible for his/her actions as they have a choice to live a better life but they have made this wrong choice to do drugs) or would you have people dying of poverty ?( the person who is dying in this case doesn't really have much of a choice. No food, no money to pay for health care , absolutely helpless)
I'd rather have people in control of their lives and then making the right/wrong choices than having people in a situation where they can't really do anything about it.
How do I answer this?
Alright, imagine a world without universal basic income. Already, your family background and neighbourhood has a major influence in who you'll become. All things being equal, the rich give birth to even more rich children while the children of the poor have to wrestle with the bull of poverty, sometimes for a very long time.
A universal basic income gives hope to those from a poor background. They can fight that bull knowing they have some kind of support. It might not be enough for many; buy if it's enough to push just one person to success, then we need it
Clears throat
That's all
Blessings
Universal basic income would definitely create a more even society. of course, a lot of people in power might not want that, they would rather hold on to their advantage. As agmoore said in his reply to this post, a more even society tends to be better for everybody
I think the most optimal one is something like:
If we consider that:
One would say:
([Freedom/Prosperity]x Peace)+([Poverty/Greed]x Money])+([Apathy/Crime]x Empathy)
I see this being beneficial to the lowest income group of a society and the unemployed. Imagine being spared of the struggle and stress of not knowing where to get your next meal or medicine for the sick members of your family? It can work for the said group but if it will be implemented across the board then the rich people will certainly not agree to it.
I am hopeful the rich might become a little more favourable towards the idea with more proof that UBI boosts the economy by increasing consumer consumption. Or more likely they will just get outvoted:)
I think it is a no-brainer, really! Anyone intrigued by the topic should look up Bregman's Utopia for Realists or the BIEN website.
My three sentences:
UBI is one of many rational choices that would stabilize and improve our savagely unfair society. The daily struggle for resources, and the threat of losing privileges, they serve the purpose of slowing down change. Poverty is not a necessity of life; it is a fabrication.
I wonder if it's true today that poverty is no longer a necessity. Technically it might be true, but it would require the world's rich giving up the great majority of their money. I'm not really in favour of forcing something like that. In the future however, I think technology might take us to a place where lifting everybody out of poverty doesn't cause much disruption.
We disagree on the scale of the disruption. In my view, corporations and the affluent would pay higher taxes; I'm thinking on intellectual property, inherited assets and capital gains. Tax havens would have to go. But that's about all it would take! The wealthy elite will merrily stay that way.
I concur that technology will soon force this issue. But it's hard to tell whether its impact will make it better or worse.
For UBI in my opinion would surely lessen depravity and life being unfair. It may brings so much pain to rich people and people who strive hard for their fortune but this is a big chance to all like everybody for a better and fair life and will surely lessen crimes and corruption that leads people to play unfairly and do things selfishly. That is if this UBI will be implemented fairly and under a safe and secure kind, like no room for specialization but fair treatment for all.
UBI FOR FAIRNESS AND FOR BETTER PLACE TO LIVE
Most rich people won't like UBI that's true. I think some people will be less motivated to push themselves to succeed. Overall people will be less motivated. I think that's the price we have to pay for UBI.
Our society is moving closer to a point of no return, in terms of ecological destruction. In my opinion, to stop this cycle, we need to heal our wounds and traumas. Only a human, that has taken care of his most basic survival needs, can look forward to the greater goal of self-realization and self-healing.
Poverty is a lack of money, poverty creates crime illness which in turn costs money to resolve so by introducing basic income would resolve these problems or at least reduce them
Given the advance in robotics and IA, we have to foresee a future where most jobs will be overtaken by robots, whether they look like humans, or not (have you seen the latest Google Voice AI presentation?)
The question is not really what jobs, because I think that it will happen to all jobs at one point, but when. And the "when" is already "now" for a lot of low-pay jobs.
I won't go into too much details regarding how UBI could be implemented, because I am not knowledgeable enough and there are much more brilliant people than me thinking about the subject.
However, there is one thing I'm absolutely confident in: if your survival is covered by some form of regular income, what would you do?
First, I would include in "survival" the following things: food, housing, internet. Now, if all of that is covered, what would you do with your time? Those not favor in UBI will often say that a vast majority of people would do "nothing".
I, however, strongly believe it will allow people to explore, try activities/jobs that they could not before because they had to work all day.
And I think this is the way to go for humanity: achieve full potential for everybody, in whatever discipline they choose. And wrong choices should totally happen.
One book I often refer to, by the great Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End, explores this idea of having everyone be able to try whatever he wants.
One of my favorite books.
I like it that you included Internet under survival. I agree that's where it belongs. I think freeing people up to pursue what they want to pursue is really the only way to go- there is no stopping the trend of most jobs disappearing to automation or AI. I am also a fan of Arthur C Clarke, will check out the book
I like the concept of UBI especially as many people will be made redundant by AI and will definitely need UBI. The main benefit of this is people will not be stressed out because of money as UBI will at least cover their basic needs. Of course this also produces a new problem, what do people who have their basics covered do to pass the time away? People tend to explore things they shouldn't when they have too much free time on their hands.
We could end up with a population that spends all their time playing World of Warcraft while on heroin. It is definitely possible that people spend the majority of their time in a computer-generated paradise. I am honestly not really sure if that is a good or bad outcome
@steembasinincome is more than an income,it give me morw challenge to post everyday because everytime i posted here theres no other first upvoter instaead sbI,,it is great and i am happy that you are here supporrting.It is a great help to us and keep it up.
Yeah I feel the same way, it is encouraging to get a few upvotes for free
I also believe steembasicincome is a good idea so I am helding contest and give away sbi membership.
My answer is:
I feel that minnows are hard to get a fews penny in those days. There are a lots of people coming in steemit and no body care them so steembasic income will be a solution for them.By the way I will give 1 share of steembasicincome to the winner if winner is not me. Please remind me after you select the winner.
For Steemit to grow the minnows need to be taken care of. I actually think the community is doing okay at this, there are some good initiatives out there, Steemit Basic Income being one of the best. Thanks very much for helping me with the rewards. I won't forget to remind you!