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There are overwhelming examples of people who continue to work when all of their basic needs are met. Some work because they love to, some work because they hav

There are overwhelming examples of people who continue to work when all of their basic needs are met. Some work because they love to, some work because they have to; we, collectively, should be trying as hard as possible to make work optional (automation, etc), because the point of life is to live, not to work. Some combination of Abundance [1], Solarpunk [2], etc. The entire planet will eventually be in population decline [3] (with most of the world already below fertility replacement rate), so optimizing for endless growth is unnecessary. So keep spinning up flywheels towards these ends if we want to optimize for the human experience, art, creativity, and innovation (to distribute opportunity to parity with talent). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_(Klein_and_Thompson_book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_(Klein_and_Thompson_... [2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/12/supply-boom-in-cheaper-renewables-will-seal-end-of-fossil-fuel-era-says-iea https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/12/supply-b... [3] https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jesusfv/Slides_London.pdf https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jesusfv/Slides_London.pdf (think in systems)

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 11mo ago
> the point of life is to live, not to work I'd love to learn how you came to this definitive conclusion. At no point in human history have humans not worked (I'm sure there are some limited exceptions, none of which have been sustainable). Perhaps you meant to say the point of life is to survive, but you have to work to make that happen.
- toomuchtodo 11mo ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Top_Five_Regrets_of_the_Dying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Top_Five_Regrets_of_the_Dy... https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson “Art is the proper task of life” -- Nietzsche "Art is to console those who are broken by life." -- Vincent van Gogh Broadly speaking, creation is the meaning of life, not work, although some creation could be considered work. Survival is table stakes to achieve self actualization and a chance at finding meaning and contributing to the commons during a lifetime.
- allturtles 11mo ago
  > At no point in human history have humans not worked This is a non sequitur. The discussion is about the point of life. At no point in history have humans not pooped, but I would imagine that few consider pooping the point of life.
Ray20 11mo ago
> people who continue to work when all of their basic needs are met There are no such things as "basic needs". If people can easily satisfy their basic needs, they simply expands this concept until it ceases to be easily satisfied In other words, abundance is a myth promoted by mentally ill cultists, and meeting the basic needs of all people is unattainable.
- toomuchtodo 11mo ago
  Disagree. Citations below. Please consume more data and update priors accordingly. How much growth is required to achieve good lives for all? Insights from needs-based analysis - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452292924000493 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S245229292... | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100612 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100612 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43465127 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43465127 - March 2025 (26 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42529256 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42529256 - December 2024 (10 comments) (TLDR Decent living standards for 8.5B people would require 30% of current resource use)
  - no-name-here 11mo ago
    >> If people can easily satisfy their basic needs, they simply expands this concept until it ceases to be easily satisfied. > Decent living standards for 8.5B people would require 30% of current resource use That claims seems to be based on your first link. 1. They define decent living standards as including things like 1 cooking appliance, a mobile phone, and internet, but not things like a dishwasher/microwave/Netflix account, etc. 2. To achieve this, they specifically say that existing resource uses that are wasteful, such as buying extra clothing, wasteful entertainment, etc, should be “reallocated” to the basic needs of society, as without reallocation they explicitly point to how the basic needs like food and shelter become too expensive. So in the context of the grandparent commenter’s argument, we would have to take away a lot of the luxuries (which is probably a fair description) that most Americans have like entertainment, buying more clothes than they need, etc and would not include things like any trips/travel, eating out, etc - and you believe people would react the opposite of what the grandparent claimed, that they would not consider those things to be “basic needs”? I guess if we were truly able to eliminate most inequality and all millionaires, etc, then maybe people would accept life without those existing things they have as basic needs? But I am not sure if your argument is meant to be a thing that could happen in real life, or merely a “If I was dictator I'd ensure peace on earth” type idea?
twodave 11mo ago
Nay, work is one of the pillars of a fulfilling life. Though for most of humanity relative freedom to choose what work one does is more of a modern achievement, the original commandment (“be fruitful”) was so general it might suggest God knew what he was talking about.

kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 11mo ago

> the point of life is to live, not to work I'd love to learn how you came to this definitive conclusion. At no point in human history have humans not worked (I'm sure there are some limited exceptions, none of which have been sustainable). Perhaps you meant to say the point of life is to survive, but you have to work to make that happen.

toomuchtodo 11mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Top_Five_Regrets_of_the_Dying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Top_Five_Regrets_of_the_Dy... https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson “Art is the proper task of life” -- Nietzsche "Art is to console those who are broken by life." -- Vincent van Gogh Broadly speaking, creation is the meaning of life, not work, although some creation could be considered work. Survival is table stakes to achieve self actualization and a chance at finding meaning and contributing to the commons during a lifetime.
allturtles 11mo ago
> At no point in human history have humans not worked This is a non sequitur. The discussion is about the point of life. At no point in history have humans not pooped, but I would imagine that few consider pooping the point of life.

Ray20 11mo ago

> people who continue to work when all of their basic needs are met There are no such things as "basic needs". If people can easily satisfy their basic needs, they simply expands this concept until it ceases to be easily satisfied In other words, abundance is a myth promoted by mentally ill cultists, and meeting the basic needs of all people is unattainable.

toomuchtodo 11mo ago
Disagree. Citations below. Please consume more data and update priors accordingly. How much growth is required to achieve good lives for all? Insights from needs-based analysis - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452292924000493 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S245229292... | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100612 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100612 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43465127 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43465127 - March 2025 (26 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42529256 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42529256 - December 2024 (10 comments) (TLDR Decent living standards for 8.5B people would require 30% of current resource use)
- no-name-here 11mo ago
  >> If people can easily satisfy their basic needs, they simply expands this concept until it ceases to be easily satisfied. > Decent living standards for 8.5B people would require 30% of current resource use That claims seems to be based on your first link. 1. They define decent living standards as including things like 1 cooking appliance, a mobile phone, and internet, but not things like a dishwasher/microwave/Netflix account, etc. 2. To achieve this, they specifically say that existing resource uses that are wasteful, such as buying extra clothing, wasteful entertainment, etc, should be “reallocated” to the basic needs of society, as without reallocation they explicitly point to how the basic needs like food and shelter become too expensive. So in the context of the grandparent commenter’s argument, we would have to take away a lot of the luxuries (which is probably a fair description) that most Americans have like entertainment, buying more clothes than they need, etc and would not include things like any trips/travel, eating out, etc - and you believe people would react the opposite of what the grandparent claimed, that they would not consider those things to be “basic needs”? I guess if we were truly able to eliminate most inequality and all millionaires, etc, then maybe people would accept life without those existing things they have as basic needs? But I am not sure if your argument is meant to be a thing that could happen in real life, or merely a “If I was dictator I'd ensure peace on earth” type idea?

twodave 11mo ago

Nay, work is one of the pillars of a fulfilling life. Though for most of humanity relative freedom to choose what work one does is more of a modern achievement, the original commandment (“be fruitful”) was so general it might suggest God knew what he was talking about.