Not a single comment so far has mentioned Karl Marx. This &quot;research&quot; proposal is merely a technocratic rehash of Marxism: the inexorable forces of materialism and technological improvements entail endless progress driven by a Hegelian spirit. This will free humans from labor and eliminate the power of capital. Thus, somehow, unlimited production will enable people to live according to the motto &quot;from each according to his ability to each according to his needs&quot;, and people will enjoy egalitarian heaven on Earth.<p>Marxism has been tried, and has failed, in so many places with such bloody results. Instead of wishing that somehow advanced technology will solve the inherent problems of Marxism, maybe we could all learn from the failures of that ideology, and revive an understanding of the world inspired by the words of Locke, Jefferson, and Smith, among others.<p>I despair. Are we going to keep repeating the mistakes driven by the ideologies of Marx, Hegel, Kant, and Plato? For examples of the atrocious consequences of &quot;basic income&quot; divorced from free markets, see the Soviet Union, East Germany, Red China, Cuba, Cambodia, and more recently Venezuela.