Small correction. A basic income is guaranteed no matter what; there’s no means testing or anything like that. You can’t game the system because there’s nothing to game: you get the money regardless. You seem to be describing the system we have now, where you’re paid for results.
I think what the parent is saying is that with a basic income only for researchers that creates a scenario where ‘Well you need to ensure there's nobody just completely gaming the system and so inextricably you'll end up with some sort of qualifier for results.’ That you don’t have ‘fake researchers’ gaming the ‘basic income only for researchers’ reward.
A universal basic income is guaranteed no matter what; but it's certainly possible to have basic income schemes that are not universal but limited to some (small) subpopulation, and the criteria for being in that subpopulation can be gamed.
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