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>If someone thinks that jobs need to be created through artificial means to keep people busy and give them some money, then that person has a rather dim view of
by laotzu 11y ago
>If someone thinks that jobs need to be created through artificial means to keep people busy and give them some money, then that person has a rather dim view of human potential
One of the 3 main goals of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 is to achieve maximum employment. This is why politicians harangue on "putting country x back to work". The idea that "the devil finds work for idle hands to do" is deeply ingrained in the fundamental assumptions of political economy.
- daodedickinson 11y agoAs far as can tell, the redeeming social value of Netflix, if there is one, is keeping of the peace. I would say that making work to prevent antisocial behavior is deeply ingrained in civilization itself, and is perhaps at its core; The Prince calls for make-work projects to mandate full employment to keep the peace and it must have been a primary effect, intended or otherwise of pyramid building and other group rituals. The Nietzschean/Emersonian counterdream of everyone retiring to their own homes as gods leaves no peacekeeping force or incentive. The spiderweb on US paper bills symbolizes the intent of economic interdependence as a positive incentive for peace. Without economic interdependence, one could promote peace by propoganda, genetic engineering, medication, and many other ways, but as the population unNEEDed by others increases, I find it hard to see how that population's safety could increase indefinitely. The manufacturing of needs, of "increasingly sophisticated consumer tastes" in the Fukuyama-esque formulation, is probably reaching a breaking point (or at least I personally have stopped wanting any new consumer products) but don't fail to see the wisdom in an idea just because the devil metaphor can be taken in a manner so literal it offends your sensibilities.