Gary Officer

Giving everyone a universal basic income will not reveal most people’s inner Mozarts or Emily Brontës. At bottom, this is about two competing views of human nature. One view holds that once basic material needs are met, people will use their free time to seek meaning and fulfillment. Unshackled from the burden of work, they will thrive. This is partly true. A small share of people would create, build, and explore. But for most, that is not what happens. When people are out of work, they do not spend their days painting or sculpting or learning another language. They scroll, they watch television, they play video games. Many advocates of UBI assume that people are simply waiting for the right conditions. Remove financial pressure, and they will pursue their creative passions. That may be true for a few. It is not true for most. Another view holds that meaning comes from the act of working. Earning your way, supporting yourself, and taking care of others provide structure and fulfillment. Effort, struggle, and self-reliance are not barriers to a meaningful life. They are part of what makes it possible. A society that removes the need to work risks removing one of the main sources of meaning in life.

Me when the Costco food court worker hands me my hot dog

Scientists from the University of Manchester have reconstructed a 3D model of Cain and Abel, the first two sons of Adam and Eve.

Blasphemy? Trump just shared this image of himself as Shai-Hulud, maker of the world

Breaking News: Japan has agreed to support naval operations in the Strait of Hormuz. 🤣

I’ve told this story before - my grandmother sent me to the home of a dear friend, who had become a widow in her 70s. No kids, she and her husband had a fabulous time pursuing career, hobbies, travel. Then as their friends died off they got more and more isolated. When her husband died, she had no one but a caretaker to make her meals. A nephew was going to help her with her finances and she was terrified that he was taking advantage of her. I went to the house to meet the guy and the woman. I’ve never seen a sadder scene. She was sitting alone in the corner of a beautiful room, in a beautiful house, surrounded by all the things they accumulated. She took me through the house to show me all of their stuff. Her artwork. His writings and his office, still left as it was the day he died. And she had no one. I am sure she would have given anything to have children and grandchildren to fill her life up. We have a hard time thinking long term. We need to think long term much more often.

New monthly report: Median rents in Manhattan remain at record high $5k/month. +6% over past year. Avg. for 2-bed hit all-time high $8,166. Lack of supply is driving these sky-high rents: "In March, Manhattan’s rental market remained incredibly inventory constrained. With just 5,049 units for lease, availability reached the lowest level in four years." Translation: We desperately need to build more housing, including affordable housing.

True currency is steadfast friendship

Tech company Just Like Me has launched an AI Jesus avatar users can talk to for $1.99 per minute The AI, based on The Chosen actor Jonathan Roumie, can pray with users, speak multiple languages, and remember past conversations

There is this bizarre assumption that many of my single friends in their late 20s/early thirties experience in which men don't think they desire children or being a SAHM because they are currently "boss babes". ALL of the ones I know desperately want those things, but in the meantime, as intelligent crafty women, they have built thriving careers. To assume they wouldn't want those things makes no sense, considering out of marriage, they can't have kids or a SAHM lifestyle.

I’m 46 and have worked in DC for 26 years. During that time, I’ve met and befriended many women in high-level careers. Not one has ever told me she chose her career over marriage. In fact, all of them were trying to find a husband. The idea that Millennial or Gen X women broadly chose careers over marriage—at least anecdotally—just isn’t true.