Scott Alexander, writing at his personal blog slatestarcodex.com:
The system is not your friend. The system is not your enemy. The system is a retarded giant throwing wads of $100 bills and books of rules in random directions while shouting “LOOK AT ME! I’M HELPING! I’M HELPING!” Sometimes by luck you catch a wad of cash, and you think the system loves you. Other times by misfortune you get hit in the gut with a rulebook, and you think the system hates you. But either one is giving the system too much credit.
This is the best description of benign bureaucracy I’ve ever seen.
Overall I quite liked the piece, though I think giving everyone a basic income without requiring something social of them in return — starting at a young age — is a recipe for hardcore segregation. I suspect we, as a society, don’t want that.
(via reddit)