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This is a lovely idea, but completely incompatible with biology (like other utopian ideals). The evolutionarily stable outcome is for everybody to use all of th

This is a lovely idea, but completely incompatible with biology (like other utopian ideals). The evolutionarily stable outcome is for everybody to use all of their available time to compete with each other for access to resources. It doesn't matter if we could all subsist (even at what is, by all measures, a historically opulent level) on 4 hours/day of work. To start, some people will work more to get more. Eventually all people will work more just to get enough. And that's just the logic of existing in an environment of abundance. The larger issue is that abundance doesn't last. Resources quickly become scarce because populations grow to the environment's carrying capacity.

perfunctory 8y ago
Working week of 40 hours once also seemed utopian and yet here we have it. And it didn't lead to economic ruin. I don't see why we can't reduce it even further. "Most countries in the developed world have seen average hours worked decrease significantly.[14][15] For example, in the U.S in the late 19th century it was estimated that the average work week was over 60 hours per week.[16] Today the average hours worked in the U.S. is around 33,[17] with the average man employed full-time for 8.4 hours per work day, and the average woman employed full-time for 7.9 hours per work day.[18] The front runners for lowest average weekly work hours are the Netherlands with 27 hours,[19] and France with 30 hours.[20] At current rates the Netherlands is set to become the first country to reach an average work week under 21 hours" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time
- toasterlovin 8y ago
  We’ve also had three entire continents to take population pressure off of Europe for the last several hundred years. We’ll see what happens now that the Americas and Australia are pretty well settled.
- akvadrako 8y ago
  I was curious about this claim so followed the reference on wikipedia: > At current rates the Netherlands is set to become the first country to reach an average work week under 21 hours Turns out the "reference" is just a broken link to an old random blog post with no data that doesn't even make this claim. I would be careful about believing anything on that page.

perfunctory 8y ago

Working week of 40 hours once also seemed utopian and yet here we have it. And it didn't lead to economic ruin. I don't see why we can't reduce it even further. "Most countries in the developed world have seen average hours worked decrease significantly.[14][15] For example, in the U.S in the late 19th century it was estimated that the average work week was over 60 hours per week.[16] Today the average hours worked in the U.S. is around 33,[17] with the average man employed full-time for 8.4 hours per work day, and the average woman employed full-time for 7.9 hours per work day.[18] The front runners for lowest average weekly work hours are the Netherlands with 27 hours,[19] and France with 30 hours.[20] At current rates the Netherlands is set to become the first country to reach an average work week under 21 hours" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_time

toasterlovin 8y ago
We’ve also had three entire continents to take population pressure off of Europe for the last several hundred years. We’ll see what happens now that the Americas and Australia are pretty well settled.
akvadrako 8y ago
I was curious about this claim so followed the reference on wikipedia: > At current rates the Netherlands is set to become the first country to reach an average work week under 21 hours Turns out the "reference" is just a broken link to an old random blog post with no data that doesn't even make this claim. I would be careful about believing anything on that page.