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Maybe if we weren't all stuck in a made up race for coins to buy things we-- What innovation of the last 20 years has improved our lives, and how many hours ha
by navane 4y ago
Maybe if we weren't all stuck in a made up race for coins to buy things we--
What innovation of the last 20 years has improved our lives, and how many hours have people worked to make those innovations happen. Are the better cars worth it? The phones? We have had already 50 years where nothing new was required to really improve our lives. Most of us have all been working like rats, digging holes and filling them back up, for nothing. If you are not a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, or working in the primary food supply chain, you have been tricked into walking the thread mill in return for a fancy colored hat. So many jobs can just be not done, and then there would be just two types of bread instead of 20 types of breakfast cereal.
I struggle putting it into words, or finding a hard logic reasoning, but I'm convinced that the vast (80%) majority of us are only working because our system distributes wealth according to coins that we get for working; and many of the jobs are about making other people buy more stuff, pumping the work around. Remember when science fiction thought us that we would let the machines do our work and we would leasure?
If I only could just sit in my house, that I maintain myself because it is low tech, eat plain food, chat with my neighborhood, do light exercise that doesn't require special equipment, bike around, walk the dog. How much work is there really to be done.
Some animals dont breed in captivity.
- RestlessMind 4y agoI totally get what you are saying. It's almost as if all the policy makers are heavily influenced by the demands of the capital, which always wants returns. Which means all the policies are geared towards maximizing gdp and ruthlessly pursuing efficiency. While that sounds great in certain contexts, practically it leads to a workforce exhausted by hundreds of paper cuts (aka micro-optimizations), and people just want to collapse in front of TVs eating microwave'd food. No time for leisure or hobbies or dating or friends or family formation. You think this is hyperbole? Just think about optimization metrics at pretty much any economic sector. Gig economy (how to maximize tasks per worker per hour), E-commerce (hyper-efficient warehouse workers and delivery drivers), Tech (idolizing Musk and Musk-wannabes who want to get the same work done by 50% of the workforce), etc. Something that makes life pleasant, relaxed and enjoyable is not contributing to GDP growth and will be optimized away in the current pursuit of every increasing profits. And while those profits might trickle down as higher salaries, that additional income will be consumed by artificial scarcity (aka inflated housing / medical / college prices). Our economic system is fucked up! </rant>