Thread by @scottsantens

I've been in the process of writing the article I've been working on for 5 months now. Basic income enables the kind of research and time that big projects need, and I think if everyone had UBI, we'd see far less click-bait and content for content's sake.

patreon.com/scottsantens

There's a big difference in general between subscription-based content and ad-based content. Ads require clicks which require as much content as possible. Subscriptions require subscribers which require subscriber satisfaction.

Quality is more likely via subscription vs adverts.

This is also behind the fall of local journalism and rise of disinformation. It was a devil's bargain to stop subscribing to our local papers to get our news for free on the internet. The loss of well-researched local journalism is a big piece of our mis/disinformation problem.

UBI improves this from both the content creation and consumption angles. It enables writers to choose quality over quantity, and it enables consumers to afford to opt for paid content instead of "free" content, and it also provides everyone more time to enjoy all that's created.

That last part is really important. What's the point of creating content if no one has any real free time to enjoy it even if they can afford it? There's a crazy amount of content out there being made every day that's really good, and we simply don't have the time to enjoy it.

We should care more about that. We work too much and tend to look at the enjoyment of the things we create as just sustenance for more creation, but true enjoyment of stuff is the point of it all. Our hours of life are limited, and we shouldn't be so willing to sell it to others.

If you've never read it or listened to it, I recommend taking the time to enjoy the words of Bertrand Russell's essay, In Praise of Idleness.

Take some time to consider how important our time is, and the need for it to be spent on things beyond survival.

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In conclusion, I just want to thank all my monthly patrons for making everything I do possible, which isn't just the work I choose to do, but also the time I choose to spend the way I want to spend it, which leads to also wanting to thank everyone for all the creations to enjoy.

Humanity is a collective project. We'd all be nowhere on our own. Survival would be all we'd be focused on. We've come so far together and yet so many of us still spend so much time surviving. Let's move past that and achieve a civilization that doesn't just survive, but thrives.