Any solution to this problem needs to consider that its not just about getting work done. It's getting the right work done to satisfy the needs of society. Mo

Any solution to this problem needs to consider that its not just about getting work done. It's getting the right work done to satisfy the needs of society. Money acts fairly well as a feedback mechanism, because if the work you're doing isn't useful to someone else (or at least believed by them to be useful), you won't get paid to do it. For example, If I'm feeling generous I might be willing to cut the grass of an elderly neighbor or volunteer to repaint some rooms in a local school. On the other hand, I'm not going to spend thousands of hours learning a trade plus tens of thousands on equipment, licensing, etc so I can build a school or build my neighbor a house for free. Jobs consist of some mix of fun work and drudge work. If I'm not getting compensated, even if I do need some small amount of work in my life, why wouldn't I focus on the fun work (e.g. writing new software) and skip the drudge work (e.g. software testing, maintenance, planning, work tracking, documentation)? Also, I'd like to say I've always felt that my jobs took up too much of my time. Even if I decide that some work in my life is valuable, it might be at a much lower level than would benefit society (e.g. 8 hours per week vs. 40 hours per week). Average that over a whole society and that's a lot less getting done.