I like work. I like going into work, I like solving the problems that get presented to me at work, I like the challenge of working with other people to get shit done.
A lot of people hate their jobs. I think it's these people that are hoping one day that the technological wonderland comes where nobody has to work, but the real answer is to manage human labor better. I think that even if we implement basic income, I think after a little while we'll all be back to work.
Reason is people have this deep need to feel useful to each other. They want to feel like they matter. Most people don't at their jobs, but like I said, I think it's because management hasn't evolved to that point.
I don't think we'll ever get a world where no one has to work, at least not until we find the world where nobody wants to not work.
> I think that even if we implement basic income, I think after a little while we'll all be back to work.
The point of a basic income is that people will go back to work on things they're truly passionate about, without fear of becoming homeless.
e.g. a mailroom worker might be really passionate about woodworking, but isn't skilled enough (or confident enough) to make it his profession. With a basic income, he might decide that he can make a go at woodworking without starving to death.
>I think it's these people that are hoping one day that the technological wonderland comes where nobody has to work
Frankly, I consider it a very strong statement to say that your job is the best possible thing that you would enjoy the most of all to do with your time.
>I don't think we'll ever get a world where no one has to work,
You think nothing can replace human labor economically? Then what do you think human labor is, and where do you think it comes from?
> Frankly, I consider it a very strong statement to say that your job is the best possible thing that you would enjoy the most of all to do with your time.
I spent much of my twenties doing whatever I could to avoid work. Once I realized that all those things boiled down to 'working', and that programming was the most fun thing I'd ever learned in the cause of not working, I figured I'd just get a job doing it.
Could I have better jobs? Sure. But I'd need to have the skills in order to do the job. How do I get these skills? By working on them.
We seem to be performing a lot of mental gymnastics to convince ourselves that certain things are and aren't work. Economics is the study of how to get people the things they want. The things they want don't necessarily exist yet, so we have to work to make them exist. Then we have to work to get them to each other.
Whether it's by making machines that do the physical work or by fixing the machines or by programming the machines, we're still doing work. We will always have to do work. Even if we completely automate the supply chain, we will still have to think of new things to want and then add them to the supply chain.
Even if we realize that all these physical things are a lie and we just want mental / digital things, we'll still have to build / create them. Work. It might feel like play, but there's always going to be things about the building and creating that we like and things we don't like.
To paraphrase Voltaire, if work didn't already exist, we would find it necessary to create it.
I like work. I like going into work, I like solving the problems that get presented to me at work, I like the challenge of working with other people to get shit done.
A lot of people hate their jobs. I think it's these people that are hoping one day that the technological wonderland comes where nobody has to work, but the real answer is to manage human labor better. I think that even if we implement basic income, I think after a little while we'll all be back to work.
Reason is people have this deep need to feel useful to each other. They want to feel like they matter. Most people don't at their jobs, but like I said, I think it's because management hasn't evolved to that point.
I don't think we'll ever get a world where no one has to work, at least not until we find the world where nobody wants to not work.