Redistribution by the government is just a forced taking. It is using MIGHT to make a right. I am totally against such manifestations of raw power, because governments are made up of people who very often—if not usually—have a lust power and fortune hiding behind the desire to do good. So I would suspect that it is power over me and lust for my fortune they are after—not a real desire to help the less fortunate. And frankly, where ever redistribution by the government is tried, the less fortunate are not helped. It is the “helpers” who benefit, not the poor.
Now in a world where things can be had for practically no effort, then those less fortunate get their share of these things too. It is often pointed out that our American poor have things a king of centuries ago would have paid a hefty ransom for. Flat screen TVs, cell phones, computers, free food, housing assistance, etc. Right now getting those things to the poor involves taking them from others...
But, what if they can be produced for nothing by machines? Food synthesized from garbage, for example. Homes printed by 3D printers. Electricity provided by fusion. Why would someone need to work a JOB? Why not, and even stupid people, become like the Eloi of H. G. Wells The Time Machine?
Human rights as defined in the Declaration of Independence set three things: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Really, that’s all a government should ensure.
Pretty much my point. Though there still has to be some kind of a mechanism by which people initially acquire the equipment you mention.
This is, BTW, pretty much the world of Star Trek. They have more or less gotten beyond the need for money. Which makes sense, when you think about it. Money is a medium of exchange. What do you need a medium of exchange for if everybody already has everything?
The Eloi weren't entirely a positive role model, you know. :)
More importantly, we've been running experiments for 50 years now on taking large numbers of people, removing them from productive economic activity but maintaining them at what is by historical standards quite a comfortable standard of living. Indian reservations, British slums, American ghettoes, etc.
Do conditions in these areas seem very Eloi-like to you? Or are they harsh, brutal and cruel? Do the inhabitants devote their lives to creating beauty and music, for which the indisputably have the necessary leisure? Or to crime and predation, mostly on each other?
BTW, the girls in England victimized by Muslim gangs come from exactly this background, in which quite possibly nobody in the family has held a job, except perhaps briefly, in two generations.
IOW, freedom from a JOB does not appear to be an unmixed blessing.
Recently saw a Quebecois movie, Seducing Doctor Lewis, about a tiny fishing village that couldn't fish anymore. They were all getting what was basically welfare, so they were okay economically. But they wanted JOBS. To get a factory they had to recruit a doctor. The story is about their deception of him.
Does a surprisingly good job of demonstrating why a welfare check is no replacement for a JOB.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366532/