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The article mentions that if all seven billion individuals could communicate efficiently and agree to use extra time-saving services to rest, the rat race may b
by dmitshur 6y ago
The article mentions that if all seven billion individuals could communicate efficiently and agree to use extra time-saving services to rest, the rat race may be prevented. But I think it is incomplete: we may still need to rush in order to be technologically advanced in time to defend ourselves against an unknown future threat: an incoming asteroid, or an invading alien species. So it seems agreeing to slow down Earth-wide would still be insufficient.
In theory, the same burnout problem may be affecting an independent alien life form far away, making this outcome an emergent property of any intelligent life form.
- ntsplnkv2 6y agoPeople get burned out because they don't have options. If you were rich and worked a job for the social parts, would you ever burn out? Doubtful, if you get fired, you're rich. If your asked to work extra hard, you don't, because you're rich. If you're not rich, you can't get fired: you'd lose your income, foreclosure, difficulty feeding your family, no retirement savings, can't afford to fix your car, lose your healthcare, etc. You can't say no. Debt is the primary driver of the economy in this country and the major reason why people are unhappy. They buy things they can't afford with money they don't have because of marketing and then are trapped in their jobs and treated like garbage.
- BlueTemplar 6y agoI would be much more concerned about much more likely threats like pollution and resource depletion, which instead require that we slow down...