&gt;Nobody in Silicon Valley has basic income.<p>Savings, financial support structures through their family, direct funding, and skills they can easily turn into funds.  These are not basic income but they have the same effect:  they allow the freedom to bargain from a position of strength without worrying about starving or going homeless or other basic needs unpleasantness.  They have breathing room to create.  And they do.<p>Imagine a world where, in order to create a new business, someone had to enter a walled city, give up all savings, were forbidden to take money from outside sources and must work full time (at least) at the same time in order to earn their daily rations of food and a bed while they are at it.  That is the world the poor live in, more or less.  The walled city is the planet Earth.<p>You mention dependency but you forgot the qualifier: on government.  The poor live in dependency right now -- they are dependent on their employer to live week to week.  They work, not to better their situation, but to keep from losing what little they have.  It is the illusion of freedom.<p>You mention charity, but my position has nothing to do with charity and making people comfortable just because.  It is about putting people in a position where their every transaction, if we assume they are rational, are guaranteed to create value.  That helps all of us.<p>It is about giving people a hard floor to stand on.  They will find things to do, just like most people with money and resources find a way to add value to the world -- because it improves their situation.<p>We don&#x27;t need to worry about keeping people busy...they can figure out for themselves what is best for them and the world doesn&#x27;t improve your situation unless you improve the world.  I trust they&#x27;ll figure that out.