Hacker News Reader

Comment by twiss | Hacker News Reader

It's obvious that this is beneficial for the population, but is it (typically) beneficial for an individual?

Probably, selfish individuals would only want to try this if they're already well-fed, or if they're confident that there will be some food left over if they don't find any of their own.

So, for the benefit of the population, we should probably make sure that everyone is well-fed, so that everyone feels confident to go and find new sources of food :)

View on HN

Honeybees are a eusocial organism, so there's not really "selfish" in here. They're all eating from the same stores of food.

Yeah, I wasn't referring to bees, but to humans, as the author seems to want humans to follow the example of bees :)

It is normally high risk, high reward in humans. There is the traditional, conservative, predictable route. And there is the novel, which might work and get you called a genius, but more likely not work well, perhaps leaving you destitute or dead. A successful society needs many people to hunt as their parents taught, and an adaptable society needs a few mavericks to find new hunting grounds, prey, and to invent the boat. Monetary rewards tend to be for the plodding rather than the mavericks, because indulging curiosity is fun and its own reward. There are some theories that this is why some mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have not been evolved away, because occasionally similar traits can save the tribe when others fail to adapt.

That's the argument for UBI in a nutshell

Or if they simply prefer to explore, to learn new things, or to fail or succeed on their own, and to enjoy the potential profit of those actions.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com