This is very interesting.  I recall the first time I heard of a basic income proposal... Milton Friedman proposes it, calling it a &quot;negative tax&quot; in his book Capitalism and Freedom.<p>Some kind of welfare state is always going to be necessary, so the ideal proposal creates an incentive landscape that is both humane and also nudges citizens toward improving skills and working hard.<p>This is how we&#x27;d design a video game if we wanted to encourage socially responsible behavior.  It&#x27;s a silly accident of history that we haven&#x27;t managed to do that in the real world.