It’s hard to read something about American work ethic without a reference to puritans and Protestant work ethics, which emphasized self improvement and producti

It’s hard to read something about American work ethic without a reference to puritans and Protestant work ethics, which emphasized self improvement and productivity as a means of being closer to God and Gods aspiration for man. This belief system suffuses American ethos top to bottom, from the stories children are told to traditions like working over the summer in high school, having a paper route, etc. Add to it a strong influence the Great Depression had on families, leading into the war, leading into obsessive work habits of the 1950’s and 1960’s. I lost a bit of the thread but I think the author is trying to get at - what does the American work ethic mean in a post scarcity economy - I think is important to deal with as I think it’s a lot closer than we think. Will we create artificial hamster wheels for everyone? To what extent is the hamster wheel artificial already? Sans health care, many folks could more than satisfy their needs and wants with much less. Will the “system” as it were hold our basic needs like health care as extortion to keep the hamster wheels occupied? Or will a fundamental shift in priorities occur where basic needs are met with the plenty and people of ambition labor for the premium? What about a day when work that is today premium, thought labor, is automated with the steam engine of the mind? What labor would be the premium labor then? Ultimately I wonder if American society, particularly with its highly aggressive conservatism, can survive post scarcity.