5 ms·

> Why would people want to work longer? Why would anyone want to work at all? Just as it'd be absurd to imagine a world in which no-one works and yet we all h

by zeveb 11y ago

> Why would people want to work longer? Why would anyone want to work at all? Just as it'd be absurd to imagine a world in which no-one works and yet we all have food, clothing, new computers, entertainment &c., it's absurd to imagine that people capable of being productive members of society (which is what old-but-not-debilitated people are) should not be working. > I think we, as a society, should be trying to figure out how to let the elderly enjoy their twilight years with some dignity Work is dignified!

dheera 11y ago
Depends on how you define work, I guess. If you're in the lucky 5% and in control of your career and doing something you like, it's awesome. I for example don't want to retire as long as my body can take it. That's not always true for the rest of the 95%. For them, dignified, yes, but fun, not always. That 95% is generally very interested in retiring so they have more time to themselves.
- stevesearer 11y ago
  I am in control of my career and run my own business which I find a lot of enjoyment out of, but I wouldn't say that it is always fun. There are plenty of headaches that come up that suck (customers not renewing), things I don't want to (tagging thousands of photos manually), or things that get in the way of family (not being able to turn my brain off from work mode when I am home). There are some also great benefits though like feeling more free in terms of hours and vacation time. However, all of the customers and people I interact with don't have that luxury so I pretty much end up working the same ~8-5 day everyone else does so I can get things done.
  - dheera 11y ago
    Sure, me too. I guess what I meant is, you and I are doing what we do, because it's what we want to do as a whole. For us, life is work, and work is life, for the most part, and we're okay with a blurry boundary between the two. That's not always true of, say, a line chef or a street sweeper, whose job is equally important to society, but they aren't doing it because it's their life or because they get a sense of enjoyment from it. They're doing it because it pays the bills. For a lot of them, they sure as hell want to live a life outside of work, and draw a clear line.
    - stevesearer 11y ago
      Yeah that makes sense. I like to consider work as being a more of a means to an end as opposed to an end itself so it isn't the work itself that brings fulfillment but rather the things it allows me to do that bring fulfillment (help provide for my family, have customers that are happy, etc).
chongli 11y ago
Work is dignified! There are people well past the age of 65 working at Walmart! There are even people in their 80s and 90s working there and at many other retail jobs. For the most part, they are not there by choice. They are selling their remaining years to faceless corporations just so they can eat and pay rent.
- omegaworks 11y ago
  > eat and pay rent The retiree homeowners in my life also need it for medical coverage. Feels like this country is a pyramid scheme that's falling apart.
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    Is Medicare not covering their healthcare needs? Sidenote: Its a fucking travesty that Congress prohibits Medicare for negotiating drug prices with pharma companies.
coldtea 11y ago
>Just as it'd be absurd to imagine a world in which no-one works and yet we all have food, clothing, new computers, entertainment Ever heard of automation? We might not get a world in which "no-one works and yet we all have ...", but we sure can get a world in which no-one works more than a small number of hours per day, and maybe even 2-3 times a week, and we still all have food, clothing, new computers, entertainment and co. Most work done in modern societies (especially outside of Chinese factories, African sweatshops and Latin American farms) is busywork. And even most work done in those places is to get us 2000 varieties of t-shirts, sneakers and mobile phones, when we could do with 100 or 20 just as well (and even better).

by zeveb 11y ago

dheera 11y ago

Depends on how you define work, I guess. If you're in the lucky 5% and in control of your career and doing something you like, it's awesome. I for example don't want to retire as long as my body can take it. That's not always true for the rest of the 95%. For them, dignified, yes, but fun, not always. That 95% is generally very interested in retiring so they have more time to themselves.

stevesearer 11y ago
I am in control of my career and run my own business which I find a lot of enjoyment out of, but I wouldn't say that it is always fun. There are plenty of headaches that come up that suck (customers not renewing), things I don't want to (tagging thousands of photos manually), or things that get in the way of family (not being able to turn my brain off from work mode when I am home). There are some also great benefits though like feeling more free in terms of hours and vacation time. However, all of the customers and people I interact with don't have that luxury so I pretty much end up working the same ~8-5 day everyone else does so I can get things done.
- dheera 11y ago
  Sure, me too. I guess what I meant is, you and I are doing what we do, because it's what we want to do as a whole. For us, life is work, and work is life, for the most part, and we're okay with a blurry boundary between the two. That's not always true of, say, a line chef or a street sweeper, whose job is equally important to society, but they aren't doing it because it's their life or because they get a sense of enjoyment from it. They're doing it because it pays the bills. For a lot of them, they sure as hell want to live a life outside of work, and draw a clear line.
  - stevesearer 11y ago
    Yeah that makes sense. I like to consider work as being a more of a means to an end as opposed to an end itself so it isn't the work itself that brings fulfillment but rather the things it allows me to do that bring fulfillment (help provide for my family, have customers that are happy, etc).

chongli 11y ago

Work is dignified! There are people well past the age of 65 working at Walmart! There are even people in their 80s and 90s working there and at many other retail jobs. For the most part, they are not there by choice. They are selling their remaining years to faceless corporations just so they can eat and pay rent.

omegaworks 11y ago
> eat and pay rent The retiree homeowners in my life also need it for medical coverage. Feels like this country is a pyramid scheme that's falling apart.
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  Is Medicare not covering their healthcare needs? Sidenote: Its a fucking travesty that Congress prohibits Medicare for negotiating drug prices with pharma companies.

coldtea 11y ago

>Just as it'd be absurd to imagine a world in which no-one works and yet we all have food, clothing, new computers, entertainment Ever heard of automation? We might not get a world in which "no-one works and yet we all have ...", but we sure can get a world in which no-one works more than a small number of hours per day, and maybe even 2-3 times a week, and we still all have food, clothing, new computers, entertainment and co. Most work done in modern societies (especially outside of Chinese factories, African sweatshops and Latin American farms) is busywork. And even most work done in those places is to get us 2000 varieties of t-shirts, sneakers and mobile phones, when we could do with 100 or 20 just as well (and even better).