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Why do we waste our lives as servants?

maladroit4u.neocities.org

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Re: Why do we waste our lives as servants?

#3

Post by kirubakaran »

What about the cool experiences that money can buy? This may not cost a lot, depending on what you want to do, but it does have a price tag. Not that I'm advocating the job treadmill as a lifestyle, but making a lot of money (say, by building a startup) has its benefits. When commercial space travel becomes a reality, I want to be able to buy a ticket to check out the earth from space.

(I'm not disagreeing with the sentiment of the post, but it seems to set up a false dichotomy)

Re: Why do we waste our lives as servants?

#4

Post by archarios »

Living in interesting places costs money. I'd rather live in an expensive city and have to work 40 hours a week and be able to engage in interesting communities of people than live out in the boonies with fuck-all to do and no one to interact with just so I'll feel better about myself for not "being someone else's slave."

Re: Why do we waste our lives as servants?

#6

Post by michaelochurch »

This bugs me, because it's the cynical negativity that I often feel, but it's one-sided and extreme.

Except for hermits, all of us want services from others. Serving is, therefore, part of the social contract. We work, we pay taxes, and we do lots of work for others' benefit. Nothing wrong with that. To rip from Game of Thrones, valar dohaeris.

In fact, most people rot in a life where they don't get opportunities to help out (i.e. serve) others and become deeply unhappy. They feel unfulfilled.

It's the alienating and creepy institutional experience, the entrenched ingrate upper class, the perverse social demands, and the dehumanizing, corrupt, and capricious evaluation process-- and, in addition to all this, the fact that it has nothing to do with productivity (people could be just as productive, if not moreso, in better environments)-- that make institutional Work so horrible.

People like to do things for other people. That's not a waste of life. That's a major part of being human. Being forced to do things-- often boring, degrading things-- in some subordinate context is what makes people miserable at work.

Re: Why do we waste our lives as servants?

#8

Post by kevinpet »

It's the supreme luxury to be able to reject society. It's a luxury that's only available to those who are either born to wealth or put a lot of effort into obtaining it.

There are also the "I just don't use money, man" people who are actually just living off the charity of friends.

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