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In the history of humanity, we have observed, time and time again, the discord and misery sown by men of means with too much idle time on their hands. I agree w
by glitchc 3y ago
In the history of humanity, we have observed, time and time again, the discord and misery sown by men of means with too much idle time on their hands. I agree with you that, in the absence of guidance, most people would waste their idle time on activities that bring them pleasure. But if only takes one, or a few, usually the intelligent ones, to find a flaw or chink in the system and exploit that flaw for their own personal gains, and the intelligent individual can maximize the scope and scale of the exploit.
It's important to guide smart, intelligent people towards meaningful work for the betterment of society. There isn't much separating a clever scientist from a clever criminal, beyond ethics and discipline. To produce for the betterment of society is ultimately a moral goal. The notion that work is its own reward is not poisonous to society in and of itself, rather it's beneficial. When taken to excess, of course it is harmful as are most things taken to excess. But the complete absence thereof would be equally harmful to society.
- flangola7 3y agoWhat about the wealthy people who are smart and intelligent? They have all the time (and resources) in the world. Who is guiding them?
- pixl97 3y ago>It's important to guide smart It is important for whom to guide these people? What are their motivations?
- fnordpiglet 3y agoYet despite full employment we still see criminals exploiting chinks. See: SBF arguably smart dude, took the guise of meaningful work for the betterment of society. Was a criminal. I think the paternalistic view that people need jobs pushing a pointless button to keep them from degenerating into Lex Luthor assumes evil is the natural state of man, and we need a constructed hamster wheel of society to keep the bad guys at bay. It hasn’t kept the bad guys at bay so far, and I believe the bad guys are very visible but a stark minority. We all have to spin wheels just in case there’s a bad guy that is stuck in a wheel somewhere too? As we move to an era where, potentially, production improves without human input, maybe the betterment of society can be achieved in other ways than toiling in pointless corporate salt mines. Maybe artists can have health insurance? Maybe people can pursue labors of love for their lifetime, not laboring a lifetime in jokes they have enough money, health, lifespan, and soul left to do what they love briefly before they die. Some people already do what they love. Great! Do it. But look around you more carefully and look at the culture of derision about modern work life. Almost no one loves modern work life across all callings. It burns us out. And when its done it casts us into a public retirement home or worse and hopes we die faster for actuarial efficiency. If we can’t fit into the corporate mold, it relegates us to poverty, disenfranchisement, food and shelter insecurity, and lack of basic medical care. So, as a post scarcity society is possible, will we construct fake work to keep people chasing health care and other basics, or will we move beyond that? Will we open the door to full autonomy? Or will we do a PPP/WPA style guided employment by the state model? Or will we just turn a blind eye and let massive segments of society rot unaided until it falls apart? I suspect in 20 years we will know the answer.