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It seems to me work gave us exactly what we wanted. My parents both swear to work until they die. They seem to have conflated work with a sense of personal valu

It seems to me work gave us exactly what we wanted. My parents both swear to work until they die. They seem to have conflated work with a sense of personal value. In doing so, they agreed to give up the kinds of niceties that would allow them to retire early, including pensions, 401k's and livable wages. All to earn just enough to pay the monthly financing bills. Now it's up to subsequent generations to get the calculus back on track.

acchow 8y ago
People used to retire by having a few kids who would take care of them. I prefer shrinking our population, especially as developing countries are rapidly growing.
- somebodythere 8y ago
  That won't really help the pension issue–pensions are held up by the expectation of a large working-age population to support current retirees. FWIW, I think people tend to overstate the risks of overpopulation; the Earth could support 10x the current population with a comfortable standard of living, if space and energy usage per person was reduced (which could be helped along by increased urbanization, among other things).
  - rabidrat 8y ago
    Human biomass displaces other species. It is no coincidence that the human population has doubled sine 1970...while the number of wild (non-domesticated) animals has halved. So sure, we might be able to support 80 billion (!!) humans...but with a correspondingly devastating loss of biodiversity.
  - NTDF9 8y ago
    No. We can tax corporate profits. More and more profits come from automation and outsourcing. Just tax it.
- tylerapplebaum 8y ago
  How will this work in a consumption-driven economy?
  - acchow 8y ago
    Slower growth? You don't need population growth for economic growth. Technology is sufficient.
- Iwan-Zotow 8y ago
  > I prefer shrinking our population, especially as developing countries are rapidly growing well, there is a beautiful song for you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gO7uemm6Yo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gO7uemm6Yo

acchow 8y ago

People used to retire by having a few kids who would take care of them. I prefer shrinking our population, especially as developing countries are rapidly growing.

somebodythere 8y ago
That won't really help the pension issue–pensions are held up by the expectation of a large working-age population to support current retirees. FWIW, I think people tend to overstate the risks of overpopulation; the Earth could support 10x the current population with a comfortable standard of living, if space and energy usage per person was reduced (which could be helped along by increased urbanization, among other things).
- rabidrat 8y ago
  Human biomass displaces other species. It is no coincidence that the human population has doubled sine 1970...while the number of wild (non-domesticated) animals has halved. So sure, we might be able to support 80 billion (!!) humans...but with a correspondingly devastating loss of biodiversity.
- NTDF9 8y ago
  No. We can tax corporate profits. More and more profits come from automation and outsourcing. Just tax it.
tylerapplebaum 8y ago
How will this work in a consumption-driven economy?
- acchow 8y ago
  Slower growth? You don't need population growth for economic growth. Technology is sufficient.
Iwan-Zotow 8y ago
> I prefer shrinking our population, especially as developing countries are rapidly growing well, there is a beautiful song for you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gO7uemm6Yo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gO7uemm6Yo