Last week I was reading this post about work and whether work, really is the solution. The authors argue that the age old maxim from the good book about work (he who doesn’t work shouldn’t eat) may actually no longer hold.
From where I sit, I think this is a first world problem. In many places on the continent and other cities in the global south, there is an employment crisis. Those in employable age bracket have no work and struggle to make a living and would be the last to say fuck work.
What do you think of this question posed in the article?
How do you make a living without a job – can you receive income without working for it? Is it possible, to begin with and then, the hard part, is it ethical? If you were raised to believe that work is the index of your value to society – as most of us were – would it feel like cheating to get something for nothing?
Random thoughts 
This does raise some good questions.
I’m now retired, so I have to manage without work. But, as I look back at my life, I was paid a salary. In that sense, I was doing work. But, as an educatory, I enjoyed most of what I did (except for the grading). So did that really count as work?
As a society, we need people to contribute to the well being of society. But there are many ways of doing that. With the increasing amount of automation, perhaps we need to radically restructure society and its rewards systems. But, as always, conservatives will object.
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It sure does.
According to Lao Tzu, as long as you are doing what you love, that’s not working- that’s a paraphrase-
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Jaron Lanier strongly believes every single person should be paid handsomely for just being alive, which generates the Big Data the big firms are addicted to.
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where will the money come from to pay us all? or from the sale of our data?
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From the companies collecting our data.
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I agree.
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I’m not sure what might happen in the future. Everyone not working does seem unnatural. But I’m sure it once seemed unnatural to stop foraging and settle down to farm instead. Then it seemed unnatural to move off the farms to the factories. Then to the offices. Prior to the pandemic, working from home was still done by a lucky few.
I do know I’m looking forward to retiring.
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Good points! And I once read that robots are next in line to take over human “work.” Only thing is, how do we then “pay” for our food and other essentials? It never quite seemed to come together for me.
Retirement is great for some. Others not so much. Personally, I love it!
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I think this is the challenge. I don’t know how i will think about retirement in another 20 years. But as it is, I am not planning on retiring.
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I had a good job by any rational standard. But after 30 years…I just didn’t want to write reports or do public outreach. Luckily we still have a pension. Sleeping in, riding my bicycle, surfing the web is enough for now. May pick up apart time job in the future but…
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I would want to work on projects that I choose not because I have to work to make a living.
Retirement? Not for me
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That’s actually what I hope retirement will be for me, working on the projects that interest me, without worrying about whether they’ll put food on the table.
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I think I should be paid for just existing, considering the burden of having to deal with other humans.
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Me too.
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Work is overrated!
It has become a therapy to keep the unruly masses in overpopulated countries enslaved; starting with the beginning of the industrial revolution and is the main course for the destruction of our planet. There is no need to work six days a week; two would be sufficient enough to keep everyone fed and the wheels in motion. However, the extra four days make up the profit margins of the corporations, so why would they want to forsake their windfall? Consequently, the myth has to be upheld
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why you are right. i don’t see why people have to work so many days a week, so many hours a day when a few hours would do. The rest of the time could be spend producing good music, good art, bringing up children, chatting with friends and all.
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Stanislaw Lem wrote back in the day, a humouristic sci-fi story about the planet of “Indiots” where automation had reached a level, that all work was done by robots. There were storages full of necessities, consumer products and ever growing wealth. Because of the ethos, “thou shall not earn unless thou worketh,” the people lived in need and squallor – for none of them had jobs.
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so they had everything, and they had nothing.
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I noticed I the comments you mentioned “where is the money going to come from”?
There is no reason everyone on earth should not have an independent income doing strictly what they love to do. Money is printed and assigned value. It’s only a symbol though. What we need is a greed-proof economic system with no inflation. It would also be tax free.
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I agree, there is no reason people should not do exactly what they love to do. Maybe shit jobs will pay well in such a scenario
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I have always thought the shit jobs should be paid the most. Hotel maids, fast food workers, etc. versus being a hedge fund manager diddling spreadsheets and pretending one can time markets.
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One of the reasons I find people who say just work hard and you will join the rich people club is I have seen people who work very hard at shit jobs and earn starvation wages.
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Perhaps the question should be directed towards those who prefer to sit back and judge others. Their job is to criticize others who are unable to struggle for their benefits. I must admit publicly that if this question were posed to the former president here, I would delete his valueless response without even thinking about reading it! 🙂
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He was a genius, the former guy
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The Aeon article is interesting. In a way I’m there now because I’m retired and loving, by the way.
I have income now without working and can peruse hobbies, friends, gardening or whatever floats my boat. I do know that most people would need socializing needs met, mental challenges to think about, travel etc. and to some degree doing a little part in helping this new culture to work for the good of all…like volunteering or teaching ( not toward education for work), but more like civic duty and community efforts etc. or providing art or entertainment, food even…but not as work, but love of doing it..
Anyway ..interesting to ponder.
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I think it is an interesting article. If you have time, look for “in praise of idleness” by Bertrand Russell that precedes this article by several decades but arguing almost on the same lines.
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I will. I love Bertrand Russell. Such a wise man
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