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> The economist Robert Frank, hardly an unqualified enthusiast of money, essentially acknowledges as much when he writes: “...becoming more productive is a good
by dclowd9901 8y ago
> The economist Robert Frank, hardly an unqualified enthusiast of money, essentially acknowledges as much when he writes:
“...becoming more productive is a good thing, if only
because it gives us more options. It enables us to earn more
and buy more if we choose to, but
it also enables us to earn the same amount by working fewer
hours, or to spend more on environmental cleanup. Other
things being equal, the more productive a society is, the
greater is each citizen’s ability to pursue his vision of the
good life.”
And, yet, here we are, more productive than we've ever been as a species, still slogging through 8 hour days 5 days a week, 260 days a year (give or take, if we're lucky). When do we get to sit back and say, "cool, I think we're done."
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- noblethrasher 8y ago> When do we get to sit back and say, "cool, I think we're done." When collective productivity is turned into collective leverage.
- dclowd9901 8y agoIt's a nice platitude, but what does it mean in practice?
- pdimitar 8y agoAside from the excellent answer that was already given to you, I feel that that law (whose name I can't remember) applies here as well: any empty space quickly gets filled up. The moment the productivity spiked the business adapted to demand that additional amount and things "normalized" probably in the matter of a few years, if not few weeks. Reminds me of one former colleague whom I didn't have high opinion about but he is very right when saying: "Do not work more for the same money. It becomes a baseline expectation the moment you demonstrate you can handle it, and you will never get a raise". The war of life-work balance is in full swing and us the people have to collectively push back as hard as we can. After all, the concept of the modern work is unheard of anywhere in the nature, is absurd and unnatural. Hell, even the humans worked roughly 15h a week just a few short millenia ago.