> I'd say most people are motivated (not all, but most) to do work because they consider it to be the right thing to do. People who have $100k jobs, like most

> I'd say most people are motivated (not all, but most) to do work because they consider it to be the right thing to do. People who have $100k jobs, like most here, perhaps. But that's a perspective that only comes with such jobs. Do you seriously think McDonalds servers have this perspective ? > Those rewards offset (and frequently just barely offset) the costs of living. This means that capitalism can also be portrayed as "Do your job or you'll kill yourself." In theory, those jobs are meant to convey the message "improve yourself, or ...". Now I get that it probably doesn't feel like that but on the other side I must say that I know plenty of younger folks that certainly can learn how to program, but won't. Instead taking service jobs, being exploited, but also nobody expecting anything of them in terms of achieving something. They refuse to put in any kind of effort (including at those service jobs btw, where they are not exactly working at peak efficiency). Now I understand this attitude, but let's not pretend that this isn't voluntary self-sabotage (I understand the psychology surrounding it may be hard to break out of, but ... well you have to), or that it's good for society to have lots of people like that.