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> Why don't we invent technologies that let us spend more time with friends and family and less time worrying about the production of goods and services? Becau
by njharman 15y ago
> Why don't we invent technologies that let us spend more time with friends and family and less time worrying about the production of goods and services?
Because we've been propagandized into wealth/success race and sold out to consumerism. There's less money in spending time with F&F (also it sets bad precedent, that of enjoying life rather than paying for experiences. The 1% can't allow that.)
- jerf 15y agoYou hypothesize a world-spanning conspiracy where simple economics works just fine. People work because on average they value the fruits of their labor for the relevant time more than the other things they could be doing, through simple principles of declining marginal utility. If all you did was spend economically unproductive time with friends and family, trading a few of your abundant hours for some other gain would seem like a good trade. (Since it is.) Where you go wrong is forgetting that "friends and family" time isn't a magical good; it's subject to declining utility, too. (In fact I think you'd find many people would pay some amount of money to not spend all their leisure time with their family, however you define it....) If you, personally, aren't getting enough F&F time, stop ranting at the distant, half-mythical "1%" and fix it. You'll find they're not actually stopping you.