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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 21, 2026

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I'm not even sure society is ready for post-scarcity: it's not at all clear to me that everyone would be better off if we could all stop going to work tomorrow and still get paid

You already tried this experiment. You got 3 months of peace... after which a massive wave of burning, looting, murder began.

UBIs simply aren't compatible with people spending it all on politics, because the people who still do have to work won't be paid enough to keep them un-enslaved.

You already see this now in Western countries where scarcity is itself a scarce resource- where politics isn't yet sufficiently lucrative for sane people to pursue it- so you end up being ruled by a combination of people who have nothing but time for politics (Karens, dogwalkers, old people) and those whose positions inherently pay out in political power (bureaucracies/HR/academics).

UBI, but only for the deeply involved in church or subcultural scenes. UBI, for those who forswear politics and vow to embrace lowest common denominator slop. UBI, for those who pledge to do too many drugs to seek societal change

UBI, for those who forswear politics and vow to embrace lowest common denominator slop.

In other words, you must sell your ability to do politics to receive the UBI.

At a personal level, we call that "slavery"; at a State level, we call that "The Republic of South Africa". (Complicated by the fact that South Africa wasn't post-scarcity at that time, so if you had genes that were [at that specific time] a reasonably-effective proxy for "unproductive with respect to the people with actual financial power" [inconveniently visibly marked on your body from birth], you had to sell your ability to do politics to have the privilege of working for a living.)

This is why communist nations are all authoritarian: the populace itself has forged this exact bargain and collectively sold itself into slavery.

Or in other words:

UBI, but only for Party members.