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“A common, casual assumption is that if you give a basic income to people, they will become indolent and do nothing. In reality, people enjoy doing work when that work is satisfying. They don't hate being productive, they hate their jobs! Improve working conditions and make work a pleasure rather than a burden, and there's no reason why people won't engage in it. Very few people want to do nothing. They want to find meaning and feel accomplished and useful. Rosy views of human nature may be naive, but so are views that presume the natural state of humankind is slothful and selfish.” — Nathan J. Robinson

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A common, casual assumption is that if you give a basic income to people, they will become indolent and do nothing. In reality, people enjoy doing work when that work is satisfying. They don't hate being productive, they hate their jobs! Improve working conditions and make work a pleasure rather than a burden, and there's no reason why people won't engage in it. Very few people want to do nothing. They want to find meaning and feel accomplished and useful. Rosy views of human nature may be naive, but so are views that presume the natural state of humankind is slothful and selfish.
— Nathan J. Robinson