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Comment by initramfs2 | Hacker News Reader

I am also fairly certain that if we do arrive at some abundant utopia where you can wish for anything can have it arrive, society will collapse. It's just bringing up 7 billion (probably more) spoiled brats at that point of time. Work on its own is also a form of "social control". Idle hands are the devil's tools etc.

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Imo instead of no-strings-attached UBI we should have something like the WPA. Spend ten hours a week or whatever working in local parks/schools/libraries/etc and get paid a basic living wage in return

Throughout history, big advances have come from humans having more "idle time", so we should be aiming for the population to be less busy as they can then hopefully focus on pursuing the arts or sciences.

Big advances have also come from some of the most violent, destructive wars the planet has seen.

I agree with you on principle, but I don't think it's straightforward as your point states.

Well, wars are going to happen anyway. If we abolish all idle time, it's pretty much the same as getting rid of artists, poets, philosophers, writers etc.

> big advances have come from humans having more "idle time"

A few people

Which ones?

Generally the rich.

If you can wish for anything and have it arrive, spoiled brats won't be a thing, because competition and envy for things will be pointless.

Throughout history, the hedonic treadmill has always triumphed. Competition and envy conjure their own objects.

Even if you want to allege that the proverbial pie will become infinitely large, any one person’s slice is finite. However big my neighbor’s slice might be, I can strive to make mine even bigger.

Humans being humans, they will find something petty and pointless to compete socially for or even kill each other for despite being provided infinite physical abundance.

Collapse in a sense of many existing power structures becoming meaningless, yes, certainly.

But that is a good thing.

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