If you had a universal basic income that was enough to cover your basic living costs (food, rent, bills etc...).
What would you do with your time ?
If you had a universal basic income that was enough to cover your basic living costs (food, rent, bills etc...).
What would you do with your time ?
For me, I'd study everything I haven't had time for, and work on my computer game. For the community, a bit of door dash sort of thing, grabbing groceries and prescriptions for neighbors who can't do it for themselves. I'd probably do a lot of bicycling as well.
@quixoticgeek I'd put more time into my projects, including the monetized ones. Maybe try to get the next novel properly published. Make more things that add value to the lives of others.
And I'd find a different day job that better suited that goal.
@quixoticgeek I'd keep working (I like my job) only now I would be able to easily afford a diagnosis and medication. And a new computer, and more tattoos, and all the other things I keep letting myself get distracted by instead of saving. Once medicated I might even be able to finish writing my first novel.
@quixoticgeek
Volunteering, going to live music, growing food.
@quixoticgeek I don't know that I'd change all that much, really. Maybe take the occasional month off to ride my bike.
@quixoticgeek @moof I'd keep doing what I'm doing, ie travel writing, but I'd be a lot less stressed about paying my bills. :)
@quixoticgeek “Hello,
could you please quote my post and support my campaign?
I also ask anyone who has some extra money to help us by donating.
Our children need your support and solidarity.
Thank you all.”
@quixoticgeek keep bees, make mead, be grateful for all I can share, live as meaningful a life as I can.
@quixoticgeek Go back to working in theatrical lighting and have programming be a side hobby.
@quixoticgeek The same thing I'm doing now, develop open source software - just way less stressed about my financial security.
@quixoticgeek whilst I think that UBI is an important point of discussion, I expect that the quality of life supported by it would be very low. The UK state pension certainly doesn’t cover living expenses, especially if you rent (unless in social housing).
More to your point, my concern is that it would be a very dystopian ’Ready Player One’. People just escaping on VR all of the time. I don’t think that there is anything that we could do on UBI that we can’t already do now.
@quixoticgeek i would spend more time making music, drawing, making my game, streaming, and playing games with my fiancé. 
@quixoticgeek Make things, write, take care of myself. Get involved with the community.
I've always had this idea to run an after school club that teaches how to apply things learnt during the day to an actual scenario. Like running a business or household, along with the why of analysing Shakespeare for exams. And to tie it in with something practical more practical whether it be building, engineering, cooking even into tech skills.
@quixoticgeek Go part time at the day job. Write more. Get outside more. Grow veg. Adopt another rescue dog. Be less stressed.
@quixoticgeek i don't think anything would really change? My (part time) work is usually fulfilling and having to actually finish projects there gives my life some much needed structure.
@quixoticgeek Make websites. Like now, only less stress and less demand to make any actual income. Therefore, more hobby less business.
@quixoticgeek Educating folks and doing math
@quixoticgeek probably see if I could turn https://grumpystack.uk into something actually useful for local community groups.
Like, micro-hosting for local-to-me services who just need to reach other local-to-me folks. Without big cloud entanglements or expensive or fast-paced software.
Maybe try to provide tools and guides so other nerds can do similar stuff local-to-them.
@quixoticgeek Take more naps.
Write, record and perform music. Build communities around music and help young musicians get comfortable with improvisation.
@quixoticgeek spend more time at my allotment, reading, knitting, and some kind of work that involves actually helping people.
@quixoticgeek First I would take a lot of time for myself (like maybe half a year). I'll find something to do that fulfills me more. Might be a regular job, or volunteering at changing places. Definitely something that actually improves something or helps people in some way. And I would probably work less hours. But it would also be unclear which hours to count as work, so I'm not sure about reduced hours.
What.
The.
Fuck.
@littletecky [citation needed]
@littletecky excellent. I'm gonna make my life easier and block you.
@quixoticgeek I'd probably like to keep supporting disabled people in education, but with UBI all our students wouldn't have as many money problems which would give them more choices. It might well mean education establishments would be less exploitative/abusive to staff cos we could LEAVE, so they'd have to stop overloading us or making people do lots of CrapStuff rather than what they are there for e.g. teaching/research/community.
Maybe more lifelong flexible learning would be a thing.
@quixoticgeek Maybe we could do away with this you HAVE to go to university cos metrics/pressure/fear and people would come to learn when they wanted to and were ready.
Institutions could be more honest about 'their thing', so maybe focus more on community of learners and learning rather than ticking metrics of marking.
Without teaching/research colleagues so overwhelmed, I'd hope they'd have (more) mental space for inclusive practice, digital inclusion by design so I could contribute that.
@quixoticgeek Students could learn cos they wanted to, so it would be less about grade-seeking and more of the joy of learning and debating stuff and academic discourse in different ways.
Education places could be more community focused, expand on everything from 'eco housing' to healthcare research; which we do now, but don't have enough time to do as much/well. Also participants more able to volunteer if they all had UBI.
Value of people's time would change, which would be interesting to see
@quixoticgeek develop a laser which could burn an image of a giant cartoon butt on the moon.
@quixoticgeek I would still work but I would do it for free, and I would do it more selectively.
@quixoticgeek Right now, I'd retire from full time work, spend some time reading a massive pile of books, get rid of accumulated stuff, and train/mentor more young folks into the Motorsport volunteering world.
Also go visit family more.
This may well be the path without UBI anyway, given my somewhat limited life expectancy!
@quixoticgeek I would go work in my own garden and make it a place where I want to sit and read and a place for all the little wild animals to enjoy,(yes making it so the deer and bunnies have plenty to eat that they’re not completely destroying the entire garden 😹)
I would go research and study a plant or animal that hadn’t been properly studied before to gain more knowledge of the wonders of our world. (I did this with flying squirrels, but not “scientifically”)😹
@quixoticgeek retire early from my job, so a younger person could get it, spend more time in my allotment, join a volunteer group, do some classes to learn something new, maybe travel more.
I would still work my part time job, I would just be less stressed about everything.
@quixoticgeek woodworking, maybe teach programming.
@quixoticgeek Tinker with computers and help other people with theirs, do more roleplaying games, maybe try to write fiction.
I'm unemployed now, so I'm trying to do some of this, but the need to find a job before unemployment payments run out overshadows everything, and most other people are working so they're busy most of the time.
@quixoticgeek I think I would mostly do the same things that I do today.
@quixoticgeek Study maths, teach, go sailing, do more sail training volunteering (combining the teaching and the sailing and with some luck the maths)…
@quixoticgeek and I would keep caring for my disabled family member, but with more peace of mind and less fear for my own survival.
@quixoticgeek art!Art!ART!
@quixoticgeek WRITE!!! I’d write like a man possessed! Hell, some of it might even get published.
@quixoticgeek Build software that brings people together with the magic of play. I think working with a team where everyone is there solely because they WANT to and not because they HAVE to would be transformative.
@quixoticgeek Answer hypothetical quesions on Mastodon.
@quixoticgeek quit my job and concentrate on looking after my disabled family. i'm in my 60s, i can't keep juggling responsibilities forever…
@quixoticgeek Nature and animal stuff
@quixoticgeek probably still what I'm doing now
@quixoticgeek as I just retired I am sort of at this stage. I'm choosing to work part time to afford luxuries and fun such as festivals and booze, and spoiling my granddaughter.
But when I fully retire. I will read. And behave like a person on holiday. Investigating new places. Eating. Baking. Chilling
I assume capitalism would be very afraid everyone might do this if we didn't need to 'work'
- more training (fitness)
- more socializing
- local political work
- private projects (IT, FOSS, Wiki, on-premise LLM)
- more gardening (fruit, veggies)
- more gaming
- more travelling
- less bullshitting and Industrieschauspiel
@quixoticgeek
- work in research (as I do today)
- spend more time in civil protection and other volontary tasks like education justice.
@quixoticgeek aside from spend more time on my own neglected things and projects (such as garden/allotment): find some meaningful outdoors volunteer work I could do in the areas of habitat/forestry restoration; something in the area of communal/community gardening; and maybe some OSS contributions or creations for the evenings and bad-weather days.
@quixoticgeek Draw, learn, and look for connections
@quixoticgeek When I retired I thought I’d travel a lot and try new things, write another play or a book maybe? Continue my musical education projects, blah blah. What I never planned on was having to actively fight my govt and the folks who still support it—but here we are.
@quixoticgeek The same thing we do every night, Pinky.
@quixoticgeek
I'd be fixing things for people. Same as I do at Repair Cafe, but probably more frequently.
I'd also spend time working on local community projects, maybe teaching woodwork, and metal work, repair skills, and I would get back to writing.
@quixoticgeek
Spend time with my family, build things, make music, have a social life.
You know, all the things that are stolen from me on a daily.
@quixoticgeek I would help people learn useful stuff and learn other useful stuff from them in return