What if jobs are not the solution but the problem?
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Re: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem?
#2The essay suffers from Ted-talk disease: lots of grand gestures and bromides, not as much rigorous thinking. The underlying problem is an important one, however.
A little-discussed solution to this problem is one I would like to see tried, distributism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism
A book I am currently reading (and enjoying) on it is:
https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Truly-Free-Market-Distributist...
Re: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem?
#3As the tweet says:
"Just how much have we fucked up when robots doing all the work is somehow a bad thing?"
Re: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem?
#4At this point I've already come to accept that fulltime labor for everyone is simply not going to happen. We just don't need it.
The big question is will the majority be able to maintain enough power to obtain income for those who aren't working, or will we see some kind of serious class warfare/starving populations?
This is a huge question in human history and it remains to be seen how we as a species are going to answer it.
[My hope regarding the labor is that it meaningless work can be replaced with research and development]
Re: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem?
#5There is a difference between a job you like, and a job you do because you believe "work sets you free" or because you believe work is a some sort of value or a necessary pain everybody has to take part in.
I'm unemployed and I really don't think I have any duties to work in fast food or to deliver pizza because I must contribute. If I decide I can live poor and be happy with welfare, I will. I think it's a great thing to be able to live a frugal life and still be healthy enough.
I hear so many people yelling about moochers and parasites, it's becoming weird. Everybody wants everybody to behave like superman, yet nobody realizes you can't educate everyone to have enough qualified workers.
My great fear is that as time passes, more and more people decide to live like I do, and economies might change because people stop consuming.
Re: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem?
#6There is a difference between a job you like, and a job you do because you believe "work sets you free" or because you believe work is a some sort of value or a necessary pain everybody has to take part in. I'm unemployed and I really don't think I have any duties to work in fast food or to deliver pizza because I must contribute. If I decide I can live poor and be happy with welfare, I will. I think it's a great thi…
>I'm unemployed and I really don't think I have any duties to work in fast food or to deliver pizza because I must contribute. If I decide I can live poor and be happy with welfare, I will. I think it's a great thing to be able to live a frugal life and still be healthy enough.
Why do you think that you should have the right to live off of other people's work? Welfare checks aren't fairy money, they're money that came out of other people's paychecks.
Re: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem?
#7At this point I've already come to accept that fulltime labor for everyone is simply not going to happen. We just don't need it. The big question is will the majority be able to maintain enough power to obtain income for those who aren't working, or will we see some kind of serious class warfare/starving populations? This is a huge question in human history and it remains to be seen how we as a species are going to a…
We'll have "enough" full time labor when everybody it fully satisfied with what they have and there's nothing more that they'd buy if they had more money.*
Until then, if there's not enough jobs, that's an artificially induced shortage (e.g. austerity).
* Excepting natural resources - e.g. "more" beachfront property.
Re: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem?
#8> there’s not enough work to go around, and what there is of it won’t pay the bills – unless of course you’ve landed a job as a drug dealer or a Wall Street banker, becoming a gangster either way.
This kind of lazy discourse from someone who has authored a whole book on the topic under discussion is remarkable.
Re: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem?
#9The essay suffers from Ted-talk disease: lots of grand gestures and bromides, not as much rigorous thinking. The underlying problem is an important one, however. A little-discussed solution to this problem is one I would like to see tried, distributism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism A book I am currently reading (and enjoying) on it is: https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Truly-Free-Market-Distributist...
Another vote for Distributism but combined with Subsidiarity and Solidarity.
Re: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem?
#10The essay suffers from Ted-talk disease: lots of grand gestures and bromides, not as much rigorous thinking. The underlying problem is an important one, however. A little-discussed solution to this problem is one I would like to see tried, distributism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributism A book I am currently reading (and enjoying) on it is: https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Truly-Free-Market-Distributist...
It's good to be able to put a name to this. I had come to the same conclusion privately but never knew the term to point to.
The real question is "when?". The costs of distributed manufacturing currently make distributionism less-than-viable (see: communes), but those costs decrease as technology advances, while the rents imposed by centralization do not, and perhaps even increase. There will be a crossing point.
Services are the sticky bit. Goods alone can't replace doctors, lawyers, and the like, at least not yet. On the timescale of the "crossing point" I'm less sure. Fortunately, they might not have to -- anything we can do to decrease the urgency of the "mandate to make money" serves as a relief valve for the oversupply of labor and decreases the toxicity of the market, even if it doesn't eliminate it.