Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why do we work so damn much?

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 69 posts

Re: Why do we work so damn much?

#31

Post by barnaclejive »

barnaclejive wrote: post #19
Blackstone4 wrote: post #15

I meet plenty of professionals who despite having made millions and could retire, still work. Why? I believe a large part of their identity and self-worth is tied up in their work and net worth… they get respect and power… their roles give them a position in society. For many, they get used to the amount of money they’ve made but it’s never enough. The type of personality that drove them to work hard and become rich…

Imagine reading this and extracting out a perspective focusing on why millionaires keep working. Hard cringe.

> Millionaires don't need to work, yet still do, so looking at them provides a unique view into the human condition.

Does it tho?, "lets look harder at why the millionaires work.. that seems like a good starting point." /s

Re: Why do we work so damn much?

#32

Post by [deleted] »

dragonsky67 wrote: post #22
likecarter wrote: post #9

Well, it’s easy to see the result. There are plenty of countries with high unemployment (especially among youth). Take Greece for example. Their economy isn’t doing so great relative to a country with high employment - Canada, USA, Germany, France, UK. Work hard if you want to have the highest standard of living.

More toys. Everybody must have more toys. Work hard and have more toys, even if you won't have enough time to play with them.

[deleted]

Re: Why do we work so damn much?

#33

Post by MrStonedOne »

bruce511 wrote: post #18
baggy_trough wrote: post #7

"hunter-gatherer societies like the Ju/’hoansi spent only about 15 hours a week meeting their material needs despite being deeply impoverished by modern standards." I don't understand the "despite" in the above sentence. The more they would work to meet their material needs, the less impoverished they would become, no?

"despite them having time resources to raise their standard of living, they chose not to spend time on more work." Clearly they do not feel impoverished, and, dare I say it, do not feel that "modern standards" are worth working for. While some standards are obviously good, like medicine, water, sanitation - some others like 2 cars, or a dishwasher may be less inspirational.

A dishwasher is a one time capital investment that saves water (a cost), time (that can be spent on self-directed pursuits), and human cost from under-sanitized dishes (even something like nausea from cross-contaminated food poisoning reduces a human's productitivity in their self directed pursuits).

Re: Why do we work so damn much?

#34

Post by [deleted] »

runawaybottle wrote: post #6
jordhy wrote: post #4

Inflation, cost of living. Families, social comparison. America life is built like a never ending hamster wheel.

This. Follow the money (follow the white rabbit). We don’t know how to unplug from the financial/social Matrix. Morpheus: What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.

[deleted]

Re: Why do we work so damn much?

#35

Post by breakyerself »

nobody0 wrote: post #28

Idleness is difficult to deal with for many people in an easily influenced and constantly distraction luring society. When you finally stop, you are about to admit maybe painstakingly your own exsistence.

Theres a lot of things you can be doing besides working. Movies, video games, sports, hiking, traveling, volunteering, etc.

We work too much because our imaginations have been stunted by capitalist media. The 40 hour work week should have been shortened years ago. Especially as more and more households have become dual income.

Re: Why do we work so damn much?

#36

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

cirrus3 wrote: post #13

This is mostly a rant on the style of article title and intro. The content may be interesting, but I seriously doubt it. It starts off with: > Hunter-gatherers worked 15-hour weeks. Why don’t we? Uh, well, for starters, 15 hours is apparently what it took to survive and live a comparatively successful lifestyle back then, a lifestyle that really only involved SURVIVING to see the next day. Dial that up to what it tak…

It's pretty easy to survive - even if you're homeless - anywhere in the advanced world - sure, I'll give you that.

But in the hunter gatherer days - people learned skills to make this much easier to survive than it would be for some random person to do today.

But I think there was more to life, even in hunter gatherer days, than surviving. Surely, they also put some effort into not being miserable.

I'm not convinced that 15 hours of unskilled labor per week is enough to be not-miserable in most places where people actually live in the US.

It's not like homeless people have the skills to go forage in the forests and enjoy the natural beauty of life. We don't learn those skills anymore. And even if we did, you'd have a hard time convincing anyone to leave civilization and join you - and we all have social needs...

I think I'd much rather camp in the peace and quiet in a tight knit community in a decent shelter with fresh food than on the streets or in a crappy old car basically only able to afford to eat processed variations of corn - which is what you'd be doing on 15 hours per week.

Re: Why do we work so damn much?

#37

Post by iamnotwhoiam »

I don't think we really have to.

If you can get away with it then try working a little less and see what happens.

My life is so much better now that I work an intensely focused 4-hour day. When I am working, I turn on a timer. When the timer is on, I try very hard to not get distracted. When I do get distracted, I turn the timer off. When that timer reaches 4 hours, I'm done for the day.

I don't count meetings in the 4 hours, but I am blessed to not have very many of them. I also work from home, so no one knows what hours I'm actually on.

I've picked up new hobbies, I'm more devoted to my family, I cook more and my career continues flourishing.

I wish everyone could work like this. Maybe I'm taking advantage, but I seem to be providing at least as much product as I was before plus avoiding burnout and taking pride in the fact that my real salary is nearly twice what it is on paper.

Re: Why do we work so damn much?

#38

Post by [deleted] »

cirrus3 wrote: post #13

This is mostly a rant on the style of article title and intro. The content may be interesting, but I seriously doubt it. It starts off with: > Hunter-gatherers worked 15-hour weeks. Why don’t we? Uh, well, for starters, 15 hours is apparently what it took to survive and live a comparatively successful lifestyle back then, a lifestyle that really only involved SURVIVING to see the next day. Dial that up to what it tak…

[deleted]

Re: Why do we work so damn much?

#39

Post by [deleted] »

cirrus3 wrote: post #13

This is mostly a rant on the style of article title and intro. The content may be interesting, but I seriously doubt it. It starts off with: > Hunter-gatherers worked 15-hour weeks. Why don’t we? Uh, well, for starters, 15 hours is apparently what it took to survive and live a comparatively successful lifestyle back then, a lifestyle that really only involved SURVIVING to see the next day. Dial that up to what it tak…

[deleted]

Re: Why do we work so damn much?

#40

Post by cirrus3 »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #36
cirrus3 wrote: post #13

This is mostly a rant on the style of article title and intro. The content may be interesting, but I seriously doubt it. It starts off with: > Hunter-gatherers worked 15-hour weeks. Why don’t we? Uh, well, for starters, 15 hours is apparently what it took to survive and live a comparatively successful lifestyle back then, a lifestyle that really only involved SURVIVING to see the next day. Dial that up to what it tak…

It's pretty easy to survive - even if you're homeless - anywhere in the advanced world - sure, I'll give you that. But in the hunter gatherer days - people learned skills to make this much easier to survive than it would be for some random person to do today. But I think there was more to life, even in hunter gatherer days, than surviving. Surely, they also put some effort into not being miserable. I'm not convinced…

> It's pretty easy to survive - even if you're homeless

Stop typing. Stop now.

Post reply on HN