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I feel like capitalism separates people based on intelligence because value is added to businesses/society by your ability solve problems/create. Manual labor

I feel like capitalism separates people based on intelligence because value is added to businesses/society by your ability solve problems/create. Manual labor is something literally anyone can do(barring major physical disability). While this isn't a new idea in human history, the intelligent have always had it better, it's become a new problem recently that people who are of average intelligence cannot live decent lives. This is just a theory but I feel like up until the past 20 or so years even if you were of average intelligence you could live a very decent life just working, raising your kids, etc. Factory workers of the 60's made enough to do well for themselves and family. Now with automation, outsourcing, etc, only the people who create the automation and can compete with the best minds from around the world have decent jobs, (i.e. STEM which isn't accessible intellectually to a fair amount of people). So we're ALL competing intellectually now whereas before only some people were needed to be the brains and the rest could live a decent life. I feel like constantly having to compete on this level with your mind having to constantly perform at its peak... not just to get ahead...but for basic survival without a foundational safety net, really lends itself to mental disorders or exaggerates existing ones. Just my personal theory.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> Manual labor is something literally anyone can do. No, it's not; people can just as easily lack the physical capacity for manual labor as they can lack the intellectual capacity for knowledge work. There are plenty of people who can do knowledge work but would be unable to do manual work.
- nickthemagicman 8y ago
  I think human beings have been doing manual labor since they emerged from the forests 50k years ago: hunter/gathering, agriculture(pre-industrialization) Manual labor is our default condition. Everyone can do manual labor, or they can eventually get in shape enough to do it.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > I think human beings have been doing manual labor since they emerged from the forests 50k years ago Believe it or not, the conditions humans live in now are different than 50K years ago; it's much more common for someone able to survive to adulthood without being able to do manual labor now. > Everyone can do manual labor, or they can eventually get in shape enough to do it. Stephen Hawking, for a fairly extreme and well-known example, was quite capable of knowledge work, but could not have done manual labor, and could not have gotten in shape to do such labor, either.
    - nickthemagicman 8y ago
      Sorry I should say 99.9(repeating)% of people. The industrial revolution happened 300 years ago. We were farming and huntering/gathering for 50,000+ years before that. Our bodies have not lost the ability to do manual labor in under 10 generations.
      - dragonwriter 8y ago
        > Sorry I should say 99.9(repeating)% of people. That's exactly the same, and therefore exactly as wrong, as 100%. As of 2010, 12.2 million people in the US had disabilities for which they needed physical assistance with tasks like “doing housework, using the phone and preparing meals.” https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellaneous/cb12-134.html https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellane...
  - protomyth 8y ago
    > Manual labor is our default condition. It might have been our default condition, but it certainly isn't now. Manual labor has evolved with the machines and techniques of civilization. Its been a while since ditch diggers weren't aided by mechanical assistance, and we've all met people who really cannot be trusted near anything with moving parts.
    - nickthemagicman 8y ago
- paulpauper 8y ago
  'Manual' does not mean lifting 300 pound stuff up stairs, which, yes, few people are strong enough to do, but rather jobs that are simple and hands-on. Almost anyone can pick up a mop and move it around. The minimum IQ to do that is around 78 I think. But few people can grasp the intricacies of coding, or math, or anything that involves a lot of abstractions and knowledge. It's not a matter of elitism but just biological reality.
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > Almost anyone can pick up a mop and move it around. The minimum IQ to do that is around 78 I think I've worked with people—quite talented knowledge workers—who could not physically lift and move a mop. Or their own body more than trivially without mechanical assistance, for that matter. Yes, you can be intellectually handicapped and capable of physical work, but intellectual handicaps aren't the only kind.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Manual labor is something literally anyone can do. No, it's not; people can just as easily lack the physical capacity for manual labor as they can lack the intellectual capacity for knowledge work. There are plenty of people who can do knowledge work but would be unable to do manual work.

nickthemagicman 8y ago
I think human beings have been doing manual labor since they emerged from the forests 50k years ago: hunter/gathering, agriculture(pre-industrialization) Manual labor is our default condition. Everyone can do manual labor, or they can eventually get in shape enough to do it.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > I think human beings have been doing manual labor since they emerged from the forests 50k years ago Believe it or not, the conditions humans live in now are different than 50K years ago; it's much more common for someone able to survive to adulthood without being able to do manual labor now. > Everyone can do manual labor, or they can eventually get in shape enough to do it. Stephen Hawking, for a fairly extreme and well-known example, was quite capable of knowledge work, but could not have done manual labor, and could not have gotten in shape to do such labor, either.
  - nickthemagicman 8y ago
    Sorry I should say 99.9(repeating)% of people. The industrial revolution happened 300 years ago. We were farming and huntering/gathering for 50,000+ years before that. Our bodies have not lost the ability to do manual labor in under 10 generations.
    - dragonwriter 8y ago
      > Sorry I should say 99.9(repeating)% of people. That's exactly the same, and therefore exactly as wrong, as 100%. As of 2010, 12.2 million people in the US had disabilities for which they needed physical assistance with tasks like “doing housework, using the phone and preparing meals.” https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellaneous/cb12-134.html https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellane...
- protomyth 8y ago
  > Manual labor is our default condition. It might have been our default condition, but it certainly isn't now. Manual labor has evolved with the machines and techniques of civilization. Its been a while since ditch diggers weren't aided by mechanical assistance, and we've all met people who really cannot be trusted near anything with moving parts.
  - nickthemagicman 8y ago
paulpauper 8y ago
'Manual' does not mean lifting 300 pound stuff up stairs, which, yes, few people are strong enough to do, but rather jobs that are simple and hands-on. Almost anyone can pick up a mop and move it around. The minimum IQ to do that is around 78 I think. But few people can grasp the intricacies of coding, or math, or anything that involves a lot of abstractions and knowledge. It's not a matter of elitism but just biological reality.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Almost anyone can pick up a mop and move it around. The minimum IQ to do that is around 78 I think I've worked with people—quite talented knowledge workers—who could not physically lift and move a mop. Or their own body more than trivially without mechanical assistance, for that matter. Yes, you can be intellectually handicapped and capable of physical work, but intellectual handicaps aren't the only kind.