It would be true r-selection, but in might not be as bad as what we have now:
Finland has become the first country in Europe to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly income, amounting to 560 euros ($587), in a unique social experiment which is hoped to cut government red tape, reduce poverty and boost employment.
I remember a story on 60 Minutes. It featured a US Marine who had served in combat in the War on Terror. He had come home, and like many who spent extended periods living at the ultra high revs of combat, had trouble adjusting to the different pace of civilian life, as well as adjusting to the loss of several compatriots whose stories the show had detailed.
He had lost his apartment, was unemployed, and was living with his stuff in a storage unit.
Afghanistan did not leave Golf Company’s Devin Jones. Like many others, Jones brought the war home.
Devin Jones: I mean it was rough. I didn’t do anything during the day. I moved at night and that was it.
The anxiety of post-traumatic stress left him isolated and jobless.
Devin Jones: You’re gettin’ closer to closer to being on the streets. You’re gettin’ eviction notices. You’re gettin’ those and you’re just like, “Man, this is bad.
Scott Pelley: Did you lose the apartment?
Devin Jones: Yeah. I ended up losing it. I ended up…
Scott Pelley: Where’d you go?
Devin Jones: For a little while I stayed in my storage unit
Scott Pelley: You were living in a storage unit?
Devin Jones: Yeah. Yeah. Staying in the storage unit.
Scott Pelley: Why aren’t you reaching out for help?
Devin Jones: I felt like a complete idiot. Like, a complete failure. I went from being a very proud combat, you know, veteran to just to another, you know, percentage of the homeless vets. It’s so much easier to give up. You go from having a job, stable job, having everyone that cares about you around you 24/7 to being alone, broke, eating saltine crackers living in a storage unit. Who wouldn’t want to die.
But what torments Jones is that he isn’t alone. There is the persistent presence of his friend Dennis Burrow. After Burrow was killed by a landmine, Golf Company put his name on a combat outpost so he wouldn’t be forgotten, but it turns out that isn’t the problem, the dead are immortal in the mind.
Scott Pelley: Were you there when Burrow died?
Devin Jones: Yes. Yes, I was.
Scott Pelley: What happened?
Devin Jones: I’m not sure if I really wanna go into detail on that too much. You know? I’m not– I don’t wanna be the person that the family hears that from if they don’t already know. You know? It’s not easy to think about that day. Because that was a pretty rough day. Sorry.
I am struck by how he seemingly had not touched public assistance, and thus was a prime example of a man who could have been lifted to his feet by public assistance. Yet he had been utterly failed by a system which disadvantaged a guy like him, even as it was a boon to the rabbits. Those r-strategists who thrive on exploiting the system by manipulating every last penny from it actually make their entire living from exploiting the system, never looking for a hand up, so much as a free living. They are exactly the people who shouldn’t be receiving aid.
It is possible that a system like Finland’s, by actually distributing the aid evenly rather than preferentially to skilled system-exploiters, might diminish the advantages rabbits presently have under the complex, multi-part systems that reward those who specialize in exploiting their complexity most effectively.
