4 ms·

Are convenience and efficiency the ultimate goals to optimise for? Were our ancestors less happy because they had to wash dishes by hand?

• baxtr 6y ago
  Let’s ask women if they want to go back to hand washing garment
• chii 6y ago
  Yes, because the time and effort spent on the creation of the dishwasher is less than the total time and effort required to hand wash dishes, which means there's now a savings in resources when using the dishwasher, and that savings could be used for more productivity elsewhere (and perhaps producing an even more labour/resource saving device). This eventually avalanches into a state where the absolute minimum resources required are spent for a task, thus allowing more tasks to be done with the finite resources available. This translates to more wealth and quality of life.
  • danjc 6y ago
    Except for dishwasher factory workers. Progress is inevitable, I'm questioning whether progress actually increases happiness.