Obligatory link to Manna by Marshall Brain - http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm (different chapters explore different possible outcomes)
A world without work
151–160 of 187 posts
Re: A world without work
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't love my daughter because I'm sharing some lifelong journey of learning, whatever that means. I love her because my brain is wired to do so, to flood my blood stream with neurotransmitters that and hormones in response to her. You're right that there are many different reasons people love their kids. But your overly intellectuallized and snobbish categorization misses the main reasons. Most people aren't on a…
I don't love my daughter because [...] My first sentence professed that "This is going to be a touchy subject as people have children for many different reasons" - I don't pretend to know why anyone here had kids. But your overly intellectuallized and snobbish categorization misses the main reasons. Here's some big ones I missed: working the farm and supporting the parents or for dowry. Entirely valid reasons to have…
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Re: A world without work
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
The key to a happy and successful life is to find meaningful ways to spend your time. Meaningful to you, of course. Because of the monetary system we live in, usually a large chunk of our time needs to be devoted towards earning money, or at least finding a way to eat, live comfortably, and reproduce (too scientific sounding?). Buddhist monks will be able to show you other ways to enjoy life outside that system, howe…
Why "reproduce"? Don't produce the next generation of slaves. On balance, life is misery. Leave the unborn in peace.
On balance, life is what we all force it to be by our collective efforts. We should make it wonderful.
Re: A world without work
#154I really enjoyed reading this article. I've been thinking quite a bit about work recently. I'm just about to turn 29, and by all accounts I'm fairly successful: I graduated college with a worthless liberal arts degree just as the Great Recession was beginning. After an unsuccessful attempt at copywriting for a couple years, I managed to learn programming. A few years after that and I'm the leader of the engineering t…
If life feels awful, what makes you continue on the same path? I was feeling like that a few years ago. I stopped, thought about what was wrong, and took a different path. Now I'm making much less money, I'm not working in things I don't believe in and I interact with people I like. Much better than before.
If you don't mind sharing some details, I'd love to hear what you switched from and to!
Re: A world without work
#155I really enjoyed reading this article. I've been thinking quite a bit about work recently. I'm just about to turn 29, and by all accounts I'm fairly successful: I graduated college with a worthless liberal arts degree just as the Great Recession was beginning. After an unsuccessful attempt at copywriting for a couple years, I managed to learn programming. A few years after that and I'm the leader of the engineering t…
Stop blaming work, which for thousands of years has been endurable and honorable for humans. Study philosophy seriously, and avoid philosophical paths that manifestly cause depression.
By that measure, leprosy and the black death were "endurable and honorable" for humans. Or, to give a somewhat more Biblical example, so was war.
Re: A world without work
#156I really enjoyed reading this article. I've been thinking quite a bit about work recently. I'm just about to turn 29, and by all accounts I'm fairly successful: I graduated college with a worthless liberal arts degree just as the Great Recession was beginning. After an unsuccessful attempt at copywriting for a couple years, I managed to learn programming. A few years after that and I'm the leader of the engineering t…
I am 29 and I also feel uneasy about my life. I have no real interests. I make a pretty good salary as a pharmacist and I've been saving and investing 80% of my income (up to 90% this past year) the past five years. I plan to do this for another few years.
But then what? I already designed my minimalist life to be filled with free time (no possessions, no obligations). No mortgage, no loans whatsoever, and getting a vasectomy next month. Literally all the time I have not at work is free time.
This may sound like humblebrag, but because my expenses are so low I can quit working right now. But it's nothing to brag about. Because I'm scared. I'm addicted to a salary and the reason I keep working (I don't like my job - it's repetitive and tedious and stressful) is because I don't want to make less money than I'm currently making.
I don't want kids, I don't want to travel. I don't want to commit to a relationship. What will happen in five years when my passive income comes close to what I make at work? What will I do with myself? I really don't know. I'm learning how to code but lose motivation every two weeks.
It'll be interesting to see what people actually do when there's no work left to do. I don't picture a good outcome, mainly from my perspective of having too much freedom. Yes, there is such a thing.
Re: A world without work
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kids are great, but by my observation, the primary logical motivation to have them is so that one can make sense of their own existence. It's a never ending cycle to figure out what this life is about by giving birth to life which then again must solve the same question themselves. However, do we really understand this existential angst at its root? Or is this simply a never-ending passing of the torch? I'm not quest…
> However, do we really understand this existential angst at its root? Children are a great reminder that understanding existence is irrelevant. Children don't contemplate their own existence, they simply experience and relish that existence. You can't be sure that you have any sort of purpose or destiny, but you can be sure of the ground beneath your feet and the sand between your toes. Children get that intuitively…
Just curious -- do you have deterministic views? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_determinism ), i.e. do you buy humans have free will?
Re: A world without work
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
I felt the same way at your age and in many ways still do at 32. 29 wasn't that long ago, and it wasn't biological maturing that happened. I became a father and now have a tenth of the free time I had before. The perspective that changed is twofold: first is that a job does provide life (your kid's), and second is that life is LONG. If you don't get rich by 30, you can get rich by 40 and still have a long time to do…
Life is long? Life is indeterminate and at best a blip. If the thing he is doing is not providing fulfillment, it's probably not the right thing. I'd advise not to wait. Search for what brings growth and contentment. Go for it. Having a rich life full of new experiences can be done without chasing the dollar.
I'm "going for it", and I can assure you that a life of continual debt isn't happiness either.
Re: A world without work
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
> However, do we really understand this existential angst at its root? Children are a great reminder that understanding existence is irrelevant. Children don't contemplate their own existence, they simply experience and relish that existence. You can't be sure that you have any sort of purpose or destiny, but you can be sure of the ground beneath your feet and the sand between your toes. Children get that intuitively…
Just curious -- do you have deterministic views? ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_determinism ), i.e. do you buy humans have free will?
Free will is just what it feels like to model counterfactuals in your brain. It's a feeling.
Do you buy that humans have love?
Re: A world without work
#160I really enjoyed reading this article. I've been thinking quite a bit about work recently. I'm just about to turn 29, and by all accounts I'm fairly successful: I graduated college with a worthless liberal arts degree just as the Great Recession was beginning. After an unsuccessful attempt at copywriting for a couple years, I managed to learn programming. A few years after that and I'm the leader of the engineering t…
Honestly I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes thinking about it. This sentence reminds me of the First-world problems lady meme, nothing to see here boys.
If your thoughts begin and end on memes, you've got nothing to say.