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"no one is required to work for survival" Sadly, this automates away the #1 source of meaning in one's life. "I made it this far, in spite of all the adversity
by fatherzine 4y ago
"no one is required to work for survival"
Sadly, this automates away the #1 source of meaning in one's life. "I made it this far, in spite of all the adversity" is what most decent adults lean into to motivate themselves out of their beds in the morning.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoFamily? Friendship? Education, community, creative pursuit, experimentation, travel? I really don’t think that compulsory labor is the best way for people to find meaning. We’re not going to sit around on the couch forever feeling so miserable that we can’t go out and do anything. We’d be so free to explore what we want! Sure, people raised in a society that worships labor would feel unsure of their footing for a while, but I don’t think that’s a deep part of the human condition. People absolutely would still work. Imagine creating a theater production. All the work on planning, set design and construction, etc. None of that may pay a living but it’s still meaningful work that most people can’t spend time doing today. In a world without compulsory labor more meaningful work will be found.
- fatherzine 4y agoAll these are important, /because/ life is survival. Remove the /because/, and the secondary characteristics will fade away. One can just do whatevs, it doesn't make a difference anyways.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoIs that true? People wealthy enough to ensure their lifetime survival don’t seem miserable.
- fatherzine 4y agoHa! If only rich heirs wasting their lives on drugs & hookers weren't such a pervasive stereotype.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoIt does seem hard to live in a work-centric world when you as an individual don’t have to work. But I wonder a) how true this stereotype is and b) what it would be like it no one had to work. There would be more community oriented resources for finding meaning. Wealthy individuals in a work centric world don’t have that.
- pseudalopex 4y agoHow do you know the stereotype is correct? And poor people wasting their lives on drugs is another pervasive stereotype.
- paulcole 4y agoWhat do you mean by “decent”? In the US at least, we’re going to get a point in the next few generations where it’s going to get harder and harder for many to find meaning in life. Increased automation, increased climate change, decreased financial security for people who expected to be secure. It’s going to be rough.
- fatherzine 4y agoThis is a great insight. Once "work is no longer required for survival", people are going to soon discover that "work is not longer sufficient for survival" either. "Decent" as in: we believe that character, including work ethic, can make or break a life.
- TaylorAlexander 4y agoCollective ownership of automation means everyone sees the benefits from automation. Decent means a life better than that for 90% of Americans today (but available to anyone worldwide). But “better” is subjective and I’m talking about good healthy food, a clean safe home, good clothes, transportation, and a wealth of free time to spend with others. And people can still work for more if they want. I just don’t think that makes sense as a focus for everyone, because it devolves in to what we have today, which is a mess for most people. But ultimately what is decent is up to everyone. I just think open community innovation is a better way to manage progress than what we have today, and would benefit everyone more than what we have now. We aren’t exactly meeting everyone’s needs to the maximum we could today. EDIT: I just think open community innovation is more likely to produce what more people want and need. I think it will actually produce more innovation than the current system. Remember that the sole function of a patent is to prevent innovation on top of existing ideas by third parties.
- ipaddr 4y agoIf open source has taught us anything open community innovation will create a lot of what we want to work on but much less of what we need.