Calls for a UBI (universal basic income) have subsided, now that the Yang Gang has been put to bed. “What are we paying people for?” is the typical question. “For just breathing” is not considered a serious response, even though physics confirms that breathing is work, and necessary work at that.
Getting a UBI for “just breathing” is another way of saying your existence is being subsidized at least to a point that, in theory, you do not have to sell yourself into slavery, which is what many folk end up doing, as no one is seeking their services except in a submissive, sycophantic role.
The reason for a UBI is to end sex trafficking and organ harvesting, one could claim, if wanting to dramatize the reasoning. That all sounds reasonable and harmless, until one remembers what they’re up against: sex traffickers and organ harvesters. The appetites and cravings don’t go away. The UBI is only a bulwark, not a complete solution, in and of itself.
Having taken it back to basics, we have better ways to market the UBI than payment for breathing. There’s payment for learning more languages, taking parenting classes, joining a gym. These are activities more people might engage in, given more time to learn.
“Freeing the scholar to return to his studies” was Fuller’s phrase for it, as the subtitle of his 1960s Education Automation, perhaps too sexist a…
