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I see what you’re saying. And I agree it would be nice to remove friction where possible but I think it would happen in very specific, local contexts instead of

I see what you’re saying. And I agree it would be nice to remove friction where possible but I think it would happen in very specific, local contexts instead of some revolution around work itself. In some ways work is in and of itself a process of trying to remove friction and what can and should be removed is mostly dependent on the person or org and their goals. I also think it will just be whack-a-mole and removing some friction will just uncover another form of friction. So to me the question of what can stay and what can go just sounds like rearranging deck chairs on the titanic.

rhn_mk1 4y ago
> rearranging deck chairs on the titanic I think that's a pessimistic view. You posit that humanity will never be able to extract more than a tiny bit of the satisfaction lots of people feel when they are useful to the community. On the other side, a lot of anarchist thought has been proposing that smaller communities make people more satisfied, by removing emotional friction. Still from another direction, not all work needs to be tightly economically controlled, or justified, yet finances permeate work as pure overhead. Dismissing the idea that work can be better than it is today seems like a passive surrender.
- farleykr 4y ago
  > You posit that humanity will never be able to extract more than a tiny bit of the satisfaction lots of people feel when they are useful to the community. The abilities to feel satisfaction and be useful are not directly linked to eliminating friction. I don't know anything about anarchist perspectives on smaller communities but I would actually hazard a guess that smaller communities would increase emotional friction but also the quality and sense of fulfillment that come from being deeply emotionally linked to others. I don't dismiss the idea that work can be better but I think there's an average amount of friction in work that can't be reduced. And from my perspective it makes me feel like I gain strength, courage, and skill from working at something that is always going to be difficult in some way and to some degree. To answer your original question as directly as possible: I think if an instance of friction disadvantages or oppresses someone or a group of people then we should seek to eliminate it.
deleted 4y ago
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rhn_mk1 4y ago

> rearranging deck chairs on the titanic I think that's a pessimistic view. You posit that humanity will never be able to extract more than a tiny bit of the satisfaction lots of people feel when they are useful to the community. On the other side, a lot of anarchist thought has been proposing that smaller communities make people more satisfied, by removing emotional friction. Still from another direction, not all work needs to be tightly economically controlled, or justified, yet finances permeate work as pure overhead. Dismissing the idea that work can be better than it is today seems like a passive surrender.

farleykr 4y ago
> You posit that humanity will never be able to extract more than a tiny bit of the satisfaction lots of people feel when they are useful to the community. The abilities to feel satisfaction and be useful are not directly linked to eliminating friction. I don't know anything about anarchist perspectives on smaller communities but I would actually hazard a guess that smaller communities would increase emotional friction but also the quality and sense of fulfillment that come from being deeply emotionally linked to others. I don't dismiss the idea that work can be better but I think there's an average amount of friction in work that can't be reduced. And from my perspective it makes me feel like I gain strength, courage, and skill from working at something that is always going to be difficult in some way and to some degree. To answer your original question as directly as possible: I think if an instance of friction disadvantages or oppresses someone or a group of people then we should seek to eliminate it.

deleted 4y ago

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