New UBI experiment in Kenya paying 6,000 over 12 years at 1/2 the local wages.
There is a significant difference between short-term experiments in UBI and long-term ones. Hopefully, projects like this one will show a more accurate picture of the mindset of recipients who are receiving UBI long-term.
I think the key to making UBI successful is the removal of restrictions to being productive and earning more money. Yes, we have the picture of welfare recipients hanging out on street corners or watching Oprah and Dr. Phil reruns all day. If they could use UBI to pay for child care, would they then apply themselves to being productive?
I also look forward to the day that "productive" doesn't mean simply working in a j.o.b. I retired early last year at 56, but I wouldn't say that I wasn't productive. I'm maintaining my home, (sailboat), learning to draw, reading for education/pleasure (currently Kevin Kelly's "The Inevitable", and learning español in preparation for sailing to Mexico later this year. Would that be called "selfish productivity"? Is it really that much different from watching misc. TV shows all day when we're all just going to die eventually anyway?
Challenges? Absolutely! I don't like wealth distribution any more than the next conservative libertarian, but I see virtually all long haul trucks being automated in 5 years and all delivery, including taxis, Frito-Lay trucks, mail, and even ambulances being automated within 10 years. How many millions of jobs is that? The next 10 years is going to make the agriculture-to-manufacturing shift look like a walk in the park!
When China's factories are "redundant", what are they going to do with a billion out of work laborers? Will they have an internal revolution of some kind or will they start some wars to keep them occupied?