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Except we aren't "post scarcity", not in the slightest. There is a limit to the number of people who are both able and willing to become nurses. Nursing is not
by tomatocracy 7y ago
Except we aren't "post scarcity", not in the slightest.
There is a limit to the number of people who are both able and willing to become nurses. Nursing is not just "looking after people in a hospital" - it's a highly skilled job which also entails a very high level of stress, and which nowadays requires a degree level qualification in the subject. The number of people able to do this job, including surviving the stress levels it entails over a whole career, is relatively limited.
There's also another aspect to it - historically, a large number of women who nowadays would train to become doctors (assuming they stay within the healthcare sector) were effectively barred by either explicit or implicit sex discrimination so went into nursing instead. That largely doesn't happen today, at least for those educated in the UK.
More pay might move the number willing upwards (especially for those who are already qualified but not working as nurses for whatever reason - full time parents, those taking other work etc) but the structural problem of "how many people are able to do it" will probably never go away.
- mjevans 7y agoTech wise I believe we //can// be there: if there were the political will we could do this with existing technology.
- jquery 7y ago>if there were the political will Legislating what humans are allowed to want and need and then calling that "post scarcity" has led to immense suffering over the past century. It continues to be a temptation of authoritarians who want a utopian society and want it now. Perhaps you meant something else? Do you think if we just had more intelligent robots to do our work for us we wouldn't need to work anymore? I think it's impossible to do it with existing technology, although I wouldn't rule out future technology. This is where basic income enters the discussion as a bridge from scarcity to post-scarcity. As an addendum, I believe we are approaching post-scarcity for a higher and higher percent of the population who are perfectly happy with what they have (this includes early retirement, financial independence, long sabbaticals, etc.). We are also approaching post-scarcity in some industries, such as software where the majority of it is "free", although of course "free" means different things to different people which is another discussion.
- magduf 7y ago>historically, a large number of women who nowadays would train to become doctors were effectively barred by either explicit or implicit sex discrimination so went into nursing instead. Exactly: if you're smart enough to be an RN, and willing to get that much education, why not go farther with your education and become a doctor, so you can get paid many times what you'd get as a nurse?
- inetknght 7y agoMoney isn't everything.
- magduf 7y agoOk, then what does being an RN get you over being a doctor, besides a paltry salary? Less stress? That doesn't seem to be the case at all.
- polpenn 7y agoMy wife is a nurse. She became one because she needed something that would help her make money quickly to help her family. If she did not face this constraint, she could have taken the traditional route of going to university and, possibly, becoming a doctor.
- magduf 7y agoThat's a good anecdote. However, it doesn't bode well for the profession if the big draw is for people who are in a situation where they're smart enough for the academics but need to support a family fairly quickly. My mother was a nurse too, and did largely the same thing (she went to nursing school as a working adult). She got out of hospital work as fast as she could though.
- jseliger 7y agoCan't speak to the UK situation, but, at least in the US, there are many reasons: https://jakeseliger.com/2012/10/20/why-you-should-become-a-nurse-or-physicians-assistant-instead-of-a-doctor-the-underrated-perils-of-medical-school https://jakeseliger.com/2012/10/20/why-you-should-become-a-n...