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I hope they will be taking the Hawthorne effect into account here.

I am fundamentally a proponent of UBI but the last thing we want are experiments in pseudo environments.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect

This is a huge issue that is very hard to solve at this point. The obvious solution, not telling people about the experiment, is out. It reinforces the skeptics who think of this as a way for YC to brand itself more philanthropically, because from a research perspective it's just expensive, grandiose hogwash.

Edit to say that I too support UBI, and actually helped pass a resolution at my Congressional District's Democratic Party convention in favor of UBI.

Yes.

Sounds like we have the same concern despite our support.

The last thing I want is useless data. The hawthorne effect is actually at play in many other situations and is generally an underestimated issue with qualitative research.

Right, it's like participants may artificially use the money to "better their lives" only because they personally wish that UBI could become permanent...

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