Last summer’s study on Universal Basic Income (UBI), carried out by Sam Altman’s OpenAI Research, shines a harsh light on the modern elite’s disconnect from human nature. The study gave $1,000 a month to 1,000 low-income Americans for three years, with a control group receiving $50 a month. This no-strings-attached approach was meant to test UBI’s impact on the participants’ lives and society at large. The results? UBI participants earned less, stayed unemployed longer, worked fewer hours, and reported increased disability rates.
The implications are troubling. Instead of being a lifeline, the UBI seemed to anchor participants in their current situations. Advocates might argue that $1,000 wasn’t enough, but the results point to a deeper issue: UBI and similar handout programs strip away the dignity tied to work and self-sufficiency. Human dignity is linked to providing for oneself and one’s family, and to earning respect within a community. Widespread UBI would sever this connection, reducing individuals to wards of the state.
This study underscores the flawed worldview of our technocratic elites, who treat people like code to be optimized. They assume that freeing up time with a UBI check will lead to self-improvement or entrepreneurship. But as the study shows, this is not the case. The elites’ vision of society—rooted in materialism and technocratic manipulation—ignores the chaotic, unpredictable nature of human beings. They are intent on imposing order through sterile, deterministic models, ignoring the fact that real human progress is tied to freedom, risk, and the messy, unprogrammable nature of life.
In the end, UBI, as currently conceived, is less about helping people and more about keeping them plugged into a system that benefits the corporate elite. The study’s results are a stark reminder that technocratic solutions cannot replace the intrinsic value of work and self-determination.
This post originally appeared at https://www.phyllisschlafly.com/liberalism-and-conservatism/ubi-is-extremely-counterproductive/
Phyllis Schlafly