As Ireland’s $1,500-a-month basic income pilot program for creatives nears its end in February, officials have to answer a simple question: Is it worth it?
With four months to go, they say the answer is yes.
Earlier this month, Ireland’s government announced its 2026 budget, which includes “a successor to the pilot Basic Income Scheme for the Arts to begin next year” among its expenditures.
Ireland is just one of many places experimenting with guaranteed basic income programs, which provide recurring, unrestricted payments to people in a certain demographic. These programs differ from a universal basic income, which would provide payments for an entire population.
I’d hope no artist or philosopher would be as blinkered as this, or as arrogant. It’s odd how some engineers decide that engineering is the only thing worth bothering with in life, and that all problems are engineering problems of one kind or another. It’s very narrow-minded, and it leads to dangerous political positions with a complete unawareness of the ideology being bought into. I’ve also met engineers who can see more broadly, but it’s definitely a mental trap some fall into.
It is artists who try to find some excuse to call themselves important. And how they deserve to be praised. And how they’re ushering in the progress.
While in reality there are very few artists who created something remarkable, and many of them were, actually, engineers who decided to add some bells and whistles to their work.