Contrary to what a lot of the rich want to push, humans are not lazy layabouts. It’s most obvious in the retired. It’s great for a while, but then many get bored (or just drop dead). They need something to do. I actually help out with a charity helping with that very issue.
The problem isn’t work. The problem is being locked into doing a job you hate, for not enough money, for a huge chunk of your time.
What we actually need to do is let people have more freedom to be productive, in a way that fits them. Though how to get from here to there is the big challenge.
I agree, but for me there is a difference between being productive and work. I want to feel productive, helpful, effective, feel the impact of my actions etc. but to me that is something different from work.
I wouldn’t be particularly surprised to find out the Fully Automatic Luxury Gay Space Communism era starts the moment the last millennial is too old to appreciate it
Comes down to what is work for you. Work for me is what I do for my employer and that is actually not done for the benefit of society but for their profit. I think I would have a better impact on society if I did not work and instead just did the things that needed to be done. Cleaning the neighborhood, helping friends and neighboors, building things that need to be build, cooking food for strangers and comrades etc…
I agree. I’m retired. My working life was approximately bookended with two radically different “social value” jobs: turf farm labourer and “town man” (technically, public works foreman, but that doesn’t do justice to the reality of being the only employee).
In the first, I was helping to grow grass for people too lazy to put in their own lawns. I have difficulty imagining a less useful industry. For all the damage caused by the petroleum industry, we at least get energy and materials in exchange. Lawns? Give me a break.
In the last, I kept the water safe to drink, the sewage safe to return to the environment, the garbage off the street and properly landfilled, and the infrastructure in good repair.
When I look back at all the other jobs I did, only working for an ambulance manufacturer comes even close to having the same social value as that town man job. Most of the rest could easily have been wiped from the face of the earth and the net effect would be an improved society.
How about 0 hours for work?
Contrary to what a lot of the rich want to push, humans are not lazy layabouts. It’s most obvious in the retired. It’s great for a while, but then many get bored (or just drop dead). They need something to do. I actually help out with a charity helping with that very issue.
The problem isn’t work. The problem is being locked into doing a job you hate, for not enough money, for a huge chunk of your time.
What we actually need to do is let people have more freedom to be productive, in a way that fits them. Though how to get from here to there is the big challenge.
I agree, but for me there is a difference between being productive and work. I want to feel productive, helpful, effective, feel the impact of my actions etc. but to me that is something different from work.
So i guess its mostly a semantic difference?
I wouldn’t be particularly surprised to find out the Fully Automatic Luxury Gay Space Communism era starts the moment the last millennial is too old to appreciate it
I’ve been doing that for years and honestly a little bit of work is better
Then society will fall apart
Comes down to what is work for you. Work for me is what I do for my employer and that is actually not done for the benefit of society but for their profit. I think I would have a better impact on society if I did not work and instead just did the things that needed to be done. Cleaning the neighborhood, helping friends and neighboors, building things that need to be build, cooking food for strangers and comrades etc…
I agree. I’m retired. My working life was approximately bookended with two radically different “social value” jobs: turf farm labourer and “town man” (technically, public works foreman, but that doesn’t do justice to the reality of being the only employee).
In the first, I was helping to grow grass for people too lazy to put in their own lawns. I have difficulty imagining a less useful industry. For all the damage caused by the petroleum industry, we at least get energy and materials in exchange. Lawns? Give me a break.
In the last, I kept the water safe to drink, the sewage safe to return to the environment, the garbage off the street and properly landfilled, and the infrastructure in good repair.
When I look back at all the other jobs I did, only working for an ambulance manufacturer comes even close to having the same social value as that town man job. Most of the rest could easily have been wiped from the face of the earth and the net effect would be an improved society.