4 ms·

Am I the only one who likes work? And I don’t mean my job, just work in general.

by Helmet 9y ago

nkozyra 9y ago
Part of the problem, I think, is that most people like work. When people sense their hours are spent on fruitless or simple tasks, or they're not valued for it ("low skill" jobs) it's frustrating. Accomplishing things, making progress, solving problems ... these are very satisfying aspects to "work.". But how many jobs offer that regularly? I have a more aggressive timeline than most on the spread of automation (a catch-all for job replacement, obsolescence, changing labor market). I'm of the opinion there will be a significant shift on our lifetime with whatever social repercussions and accommodations follow. But I don't think people will ever stop "working."
agumonkey 9y ago
After long unemployment period and bad times, I need work, not the social thing, just the activity. I guess to some, the fact to be doing something is better than the job being interesting, a career, well paying .. (as long as it's not to extreme of course) btw, I believe that we're wired to like work as a basis for social bonding (if you believe that social bonding was selected to help for survival, and work is basically mutualized survival). So doing something in group is probably always good as long as the group factor is good enough (aka not being slaves)
bfsg 9y ago
There is nothing wrong with working and liking your work. I have a passion for music and coding, working all day. Problem is that most people need to work for another reason; $$$ instead of passion, to avoid ending up in the streets. That's more like slavery.
Allvitende 9y ago
No. Work is a hobby for me. I enjoy the process of working, progressing, doing something. I don't really have any other hobbies that I wish I could be doing all day. We have to have something to wake up and do everyday, otherwise life is very boring and just a waiting game until the end of our days. If people don't enjoy their work, their mission should be to keep looking until they find something that suits them. It's worth the effort finding something that you enjoy doing everyday.
CJefferson 9y ago
If you like work in general, then either you are very easily entertained, or you have never had a truly boring job. Have you ever worked on a factory line for 40 hours a week on minimum wage, doing something only slightly too complicated for a machine?
- Helmet 9y ago
  Sort of, I’ve washed dishes for a living, bussed tables at an Outback steakhouse, worked as a line cook, stocked groceries at Kroger, and am now a professional software engineer and hobbyist artist. My favorite gig was probably stocking groceries, as I enjoyed my coworkers and working at night. Almost all of these jobs have been “truly boring”, but I’ve also been unemployed and completely without direction. That period of my life was very difficult, and I found that work, no matter how boring the job is, afforded me a dignity and purpose that I couldn’t find anywhere else. Of course, others may feel differently, and I understand that.
aalleavitch 9y ago
I like to work. If I had a choice, I would be using my skills for something more directly beneficial to mankind than what I do now. Unfortunately, that just doesn't pay as well, and I have student loans and other financial obligations to worry about.
nickthemagicman 9y ago
I think most people would keep working even with ubi. Just on things they care about and choose to work on.
Clubber 9y ago
I love work. I love building things. I just don't love the constraints of doing for most other people, particularly if they love power and politics.
- Helmet 9y ago
  Yeah, I agree with you there, but it seems to me that power and politics are a fact of life, like the air that we breathe or food that we eat. Maybe we can clean up the air or cook nicer things, but they will always be there.
JulianMorrison 9y ago
No, everyone likes work. We call it "hobbies" when its not formally productive and "vocations" when it is. Capitalism, as a system, is awful at allocating this work that people love to the people who love it. They either can't at all, or they are forced to fit it around wasted time, or they have to gamble on trying to build it up from nothing, and often losing their stake and their beloved work.
- Helmet 9y ago
  If everyone did what they wanted to do all of the time, the world would simply cease to function.
  - JulianMorrison 9y ago
    The idea being that we automate, design away or do without as much as possible of the scutwork and pay the remainder handsomely. Then people can do the things they like - which may well be highly useful, they just aren't what capitalism will pay for.
  - soundwave106 9y ago
    The utopia vision as I understand it behind UBI is that automation takes care of most / all of the work people don't want to do. I think the biggest challenge to this utopia vision (assuming automation gets to this point) is more that, frankly, labor is not wealth. Land is land for instance regardless of what is automated or not. Rent seeking for various things is rather common, most of which automation will not touch. I can envision strong resistance to any sort of UBI scheme from this group (some of this group frankly seem to not even care for our current safety nets now). Before we go through a true "post work" phase, we'll probably go through a phase where service oriented jobs are the norm -- this is also harder to automate away completely, although probably not near impossible like tackling assets and rent-seeking. The main problem here is that this side of the workforce is currently rather undervalued IMHO. So if one wants improvements in the world of work, I personally think putting more efforts here would be better vs. banking on UBI.
  - baursak 9y ago
simonsarris 9y ago
In front of virtue the immortal gods have put sweat. …And it is by working that a man becomes more philos than other men to the immortals and to mortals. They all hate the idle. — Hesiod, Works and Days, 600 BC
Vaskivo 9y ago
I also like work. It's just that five days a week, I have to stop working and go to my job :)

Am I the only one who likes work? And I don’t mean my job, just work in general.

by Helmet 9y ago

Am I the only one who likes work? And I don’t mean my job, just work in general.

Part of the problem, I think, is that most people like work. When people sense their hours are spent on fruitless or simple tasks, or they're not valued for it ("low skill" jobs) it's frustrating. Accomplishing things, making progress, solving problems ... these are very satisfying aspects to "work.". But how many jobs offer that regularly? I have a more aggressive timeline than most on the spread of automation (a catch-all for job replacement, obsolescence, changing labor market). I'm of the opinion there will be a significant shift on our lifetime with whatever social repercussions and accommodations follow. But I don't think people will ever stop "working."

agumonkey 9y ago

After long unemployment period and bad times, I need work, not the social thing, just the activity. I guess to some, the fact to be doing something is better than the job being interesting, a career, well paying .. (as long as it's not to extreme of course) btw, I believe that we're wired to like work as a basis for social bonding (if you believe that social bonding was selected to help for survival, and work is basically mutualized survival). So doing something in group is probably always good as long as the group factor is good enough (aka not being slaves)

bfsg 9y ago

There is nothing wrong with working and liking your work. I have a passion for music and coding, working all day. Problem is that most people need to work for another reason; $$$ instead of passion, to avoid ending up in the streets. That's more like slavery.

Allvitende 9y ago

No. Work is a hobby for me. I enjoy the process of working, progressing, doing something. I don't really have any other hobbies that I wish I could be doing all day. We have to have something to wake up and do everyday, otherwise life is very boring and just a waiting game until the end of our days. If people don't enjoy their work, their mission should be to keep looking until they find something that suits them. It's worth the effort finding something that you enjoy doing everyday.

CJefferson 9y ago

If you like work in general, then either you are very easily entertained, or you have never had a truly boring job. Have you ever worked on a factory line for 40 hours a week on minimum wage, doing something only slightly too complicated for a machine?

Helmet 9y ago
Sort of, I’ve washed dishes for a living, bussed tables at an Outback steakhouse, worked as a line cook, stocked groceries at Kroger, and am now a professional software engineer and hobbyist artist. My favorite gig was probably stocking groceries, as I enjoyed my coworkers and working at night. Almost all of these jobs have been “truly boring”, but I’ve also been unemployed and completely without direction. That period of my life was very difficult, and I found that work, no matter how boring the job is, afforded me a dignity and purpose that I couldn’t find anywhere else. Of course, others may feel differently, and I understand that.

aalleavitch 9y ago

I like to work. If I had a choice, I would be using my skills for something more directly beneficial to mankind than what I do now. Unfortunately, that just doesn't pay as well, and I have student loans and other financial obligations to worry about.

nickthemagicman 9y ago

I think most people would keep working even with ubi. Just on things they care about and choose to work on.

Clubber 9y ago

I love work. I love building things. I just don't love the constraints of doing for most other people, particularly if they love power and politics.

Helmet 9y ago
Yeah, I agree with you there, but it seems to me that power and politics are a fact of life, like the air that we breathe or food that we eat. Maybe we can clean up the air or cook nicer things, but they will always be there.

JulianMorrison 9y ago

No, everyone likes work. We call it "hobbies" when its not formally productive and "vocations" when it is. Capitalism, as a system, is awful at allocating this work that people love to the people who love it. They either can't at all, or they are forced to fit it around wasted time, or they have to gamble on trying to build it up from nothing, and often losing their stake and their beloved work.

Helmet 9y ago
If everyone did what they wanted to do all of the time, the world would simply cease to function.
- JulianMorrison 9y ago
  The idea being that we automate, design away or do without as much as possible of the scutwork and pay the remainder handsomely. Then people can do the things they like - which may well be highly useful, they just aren't what capitalism will pay for.
- soundwave106 9y ago
  The utopia vision as I understand it behind UBI is that automation takes care of most / all of the work people don't want to do. I think the biggest challenge to this utopia vision (assuming automation gets to this point) is more that, frankly, labor is not wealth. Land is land for instance regardless of what is automated or not. Rent seeking for various things is rather common, most of which automation will not touch. I can envision strong resistance to any sort of UBI scheme from this group (some of this group frankly seem to not even care for our current safety nets now). Before we go through a true "post work" phase, we'll probably go through a phase where service oriented jobs are the norm -- this is also harder to automate away completely, although probably not near impossible like tackling assets and rent-seeking. The main problem here is that this side of the workforce is currently rather undervalued IMHO. So if one wants improvements in the world of work, I personally think putting more efforts here would be better vs. banking on UBI.
- baursak 9y ago

simonsarris 9y ago

In front of virtue the immortal gods have put sweat. …And it is by working that a man becomes more philos than other men to the immortals and to mortals. They all hate the idle. — Hesiod, Works and Days, 600 BC

Vaskivo 9y ago

I also like work. It's just that five days a week, I have to stop working and go to my job :)