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In the HN-popular utopian future where automation has made most people unemployed and living on UBI, we're supposed to be able to pursue our dreams without the
by averagewall 9y ago
In the HN-popular utopian future where automation has made most people unemployed and living on UBI, we're supposed to be able to pursue our dreams without the pressure to feed ourselves. But in reality, many people don't have dreams or the motivation to pursue them and end up as drug addicts/alcoholics/gangsters which is just easier.
I used to laugh at the idea that people need jobs to feel fulfilled. I thought those must be quite helpless people who can't even make their own hobbies. But from personal experience, I found that dreams are for young people and people with demanding jobs. They're a grass-is-greener fantasy when they're out of reach but deteriorate into boring unrewarding work when you actually do them. Working for a company is especially fulfilling because you more productive than you can be on your own. You feel more useful. You feel important and needed.
So I think the idea of widespread happy unemployment isn't going to work. It might still happen but I think it'll be a tragedy, not a paradise unless we can find something else that takes the place of work.
- spectrum1234 9y agoExactly!
- Bakary 9y agoI don't understand why there aren't more people aware of this potential tragedy. There are few substitutes for the feeling of being socially useful.
- sangnoir 9y ago> But in reality, many people don't have dreams or the motivation to pursue them and end up as drug addicts/alcoholics/gangsters You seem to be suggesting that one can't simultaneously have a job and dreams and be an alcoholic/drug addict/gangster. This is sloppy logic Edit: Your perspective also explains why society hasn't addressed alcoholism and drug addiction for so long: to you, the alcoholics and addicts are an entirely separate group from upright, hardworking, motivated, dream-pursuing "normal" people.
- hectorr 9y agoFulfillment is a hard thing to quantify. Maybe unemployed people feel bad because they aren't doing anything, or maybe they feel bad because there is nothing for an unemployed person to do when everyone is working. Maybe they feel bad because other people make them feel bad for being unemployed, through their pity or indifference or even well meaning attempts to help. You are completely right that it sucks to not have a job, but its possible that's a reflection of how social life is structured and not some biological Protestant work ethic. Right now "I work at X company" is shorthand for "I am a a productive member of society". That certainly benefits companies and certain types of people. But it's not the only imaginable value system. And I suspect that people who feel valuable are a lot less likely to find solace in bottle of pills.
- closeparen 9y agoDo you think people will feel fulfilled in jobs that they know are make-work or easily automated, and know that they are employed solely because someone in power believes that people ought to be required to work, even if the work is useless?