Quote of the Day
“Universal Basic Income” means “feed the goldfish in the aquarium, until the time is right to pull the plug.”
Matthew Bracken @Matt_Bracken
Posted on Gab November 13, 2025
This appears to be a reasonable hypothesis.
Whoever (the “elite”, a super AI, The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, etc.) has or acquires the power to pull the plug is likely to at some point in time come to the conclusion most other people are “just parasites”. From there the obvious conclusion is that the world would be a better place without “those people.”
I am listening to a fascination book, On Tyranny (Expanded Audio Edition): Updated with Twenty New Lessons from Russia’s War on Ukraine by Timothy Snyder*. Snyder is a historian and makes the claim there is a frequent crossroads in the late history of an empire. This is my paraphrasing so I may misrepresent him some… The controlling elites get tired of giving so much to the far reaches of the empire and decide it is time to collect on their investment. At about the same time the far reaches of the empire get tired of the controlling elites taking all their resources and decide it is time to get something in return. For some reason the resulting resolution does not go well. I could see Universal Basic Income arriving at a similar crossroads and those involved do not see the humor in the situation as much as I do.
Prepare appropriately.
* You may wish to skip the book part where he makes his case as to why President Trump is a tyrant, and get to the history of Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Vikings, and Russia where the good stuff is.
What’s an example of the elites ever coming out on top in this scenario? Every civilization I know of that went down this path ended up with the masses decapitating the elites and starting over.
The better analogy for UBI would be “Feed the dogs so they don’t eat you in your sleep.”
Now, if they’re able to build enough robots that there’s one for every human to keep the masses physically restrained, then sure, maybe this time they’ll “win,” though the end result is a prison planet, so I don’t know how that’s really “winning…”
The USSR and their satellite states. The best example in the current context is what happened in Ukraine in the 1930s. You might also look at the great potato famine.
But the USSR only lasted for, what, 70 years? So they were “on top” for one lifetime. Doesn’t seem like “winning” to me.
You seem to forget the nature of addiction and hubris.
If they could think of the terms you mention, they wouldn’t be elites in the first place.
But they couldn’t help themselves if they had to.
Their junkies looking for their next fix.
And thoughts outside tomorrow for other than profit, be damned.
Some people are just human grasshoppers by nature.
The famine in the Soviet Union also occurred in the Volga region, the North Caucasus and Kazakhstan. The cause was the same as in the Ukraine-collective farms. The British Empire also created other atrocities via famine. Bengal in 1943 and South Africa during the Boer War come to mind.
And don’t forget what they did to the Irish.
Joe already did that
We can hope that AI doesn’t hallucinate when the time is right.
I have to question the judgment of someone who thinks Trump is a tyrant. Judgement about anything. Reading the blurb, I am guessing he things that Putin is trying to recreate the Russian Empire, if not the Soviet Union. Actually, Putin was responding to the overstretch of the NATO (US) empire. At any rate I am not going to support this dude financially any more than I will support Gavin de Becker for writing half of a good book. Since you have it perhaps you could write a review of the good part.
“At any rate I am not going to support this dude financially any more than I will support Gavin de Becker for writing half of a good book.”
And that’s why they invented the public library! You can read almost anything for free, and you’ve already paid 1/3 of a cent for the copy.
The issue with Trump as a “tyrant” is that he is “robbing” the people who have arranged the graft (Tuchta, Baksheesh, Kickback) or whatever you call it, so it benefits them to excess, and when the favors you have come to expect as your due are eliminated, it feels like you’re being robbed. They are not generally the people who have invented or enabled the graft; They came along later and realized where they could tap into it with minimal notice.
The idea that UBI might be a tool for control is definitely something to consider, especially in light of the historical patterns you reference. But isn’t there a risk of overlooking the potential for UBI to offer more freedom to individuals, particularly as automation and AI continue to disrupt traditional job markets?
“…offer more freedom to individuals,”
To do what, sit on their fat asses and watch TV?
All this: UBI will provide freedom for aspiring artists /philosophers /writers, empowering the creative process etc. etc. etc., is propaganda.
All one needs to do is look at the -now multiple – generations of families stuck on welfare (just a less politically correct term for ‘UBI’) to see the results and to put the lie to that.
UBI will be delivered via a Central Bank Digital Currency.
There will be no freedom beyond making choices that your government wishes you to make.
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Regarding UBI, a couple relevant quotes from other contexts:
“A government strong enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take away everything you have.”
“If you give them the power to feed you, you give them the power to starve you.”
IOW, any power granted to the government also includes an equal and opposite power, often (but not always) exercised by simply NOT doing what they’ve been authorized to do. Make sure you understand both sides before giving them power over anything.
The problem with dependency is that, if your benefactors ever decide to stop supporting you, you’re screwed. The benefactor class understands the nature of that relationship, but it seems the dependent class never learns it.
(Then again, those same benefactors also control the “public education” system, so they can make damn sure the dependent class is never taught the important concepts.)
What’s your plan, then? In a few years, most of white-collar America is going to be out of a job thanks to AI, and there aren’t enough broken pipes and faulty outlets in the world for them all to be plumbers and electricians. How do you plan on employing them? And if you don’t have a plan, what do you expect to happen to them without some kind of UBI?
There’s going to have to be some transfer of money from the billionaires and their trillion-dollar companies to the mass of people. It’s not optional, because folks aren’t going to just sit around and let their kids starve. Well, I suppose there is one other option, which the French have already demonstrated works fairly well….