K Sera discusses the ANTI-WORK. Micah discusses capitalism. And as the time of this recording, Phil is still using his spite as both motivation to work.
Shownotes:
N/A
K Sera's after thoughts:
I feel two ways (as I often do) about anti-work/anti-ambition. One way is that, yes, of course people need to work for society to function, and we “like” society because it makes us safer (or makes us feel safer?) and there is this sense (indoctrination? philosophy?) that if people want to reap the benefits of society, they need to pull their own weight and put in a “fair share” of work towards society’s upkeep. This isn’t wrong necessarily - or hasn’t been wrong - but let’s put a pin in that for a moment.
The other way I feel aligns a bit closer to what other philosophers describe in their criticism of the work ethic. We are expected to ‘work for our bread’ for the ‘right to live a decent life,’ which can be both sad and discouraging. I live in a very privileged position. I’ve never been so desperate for basic needs that I would go to creative and terrible lengths to obtain them. I have a hard time understanding the reality of having to survive on little to nothing. But I can imagine it to a point. I have an idea of what that could be, which gives me enough of an incentive to continue to grind away at a job, to make money, to live comfortably - oh joy.
So let me grab that pin back now. There are a lot of jobs that few people will ever find fulfilling, and yet they “need to be done” so we can keep living comfortable and convenient lives. So we convince people to sell their time and effort to do these things for capital to purchase goods that provide (a sense of?) fulfillment as an incentive.
But what if we design machines to replace the dangerous and undesirable jobs? Not a lot of people actually want to work in retail or fast-food. People die doing things like fishing and logging. So, let’s imagine that we replace those jobs with robots, or design a safe and sustainable system to produce and manage resources. Ok, I like this idea. You still need to maintain these machines and facilities. Human labor will need to be a factor at some level. So now what? Those undesirable jobs are suddenly gone. What work can those people who would have filled those positions do? Do they need to work? Will the ‘cost’ to manufacture goods go down at all because the robot workers don’t need to be paid? They still need to be maintained, but they don’t need rest or food, they don’t need healthcare benefits or a vehicle or a house to live in separate from the worksite. So, if the cost of manufacturing goes down, will the cost of goods go down? Will people who can’t find an open job be able to afford the cost to live comfortably? Or will we need a UBI to keep the people who can’t or won’t work alive and safe and comfortable enough to not rise up and riot or steal just to survive? A person’s sense of ‘fairness’ is really tested here. (But life has never been fair.)
What if we take ‘cost’ out of the equation?
Everything about the way our society functions reinforces the message that human lives are cheap. Individuals are only worth as much as they can add to the collective. You need some way to ‘prove’ your worth to the collective. Right now that’s money, but what if there was something a bit different? Something money adjacent? Now we are getting into creepy social credit territory. Nothing could possibly go wrong with recorded social credit, right? No one would ever cheat the system to establish power and control of the population for their own gain.
So… iio, humanity sucks and that’s why our lives are cheap and why we will forever be wage slaves. The end.
Keep striving for that magical unicorn occupation that fulfills all the ‘ikigai’ quadrants! And, if you can’t manage that, well, find something you can tolerate that will pay the bills and give you enough time to rest and find fulfillment in recreation. Status quo for the… win… yeah.
Phil's after thoughts:
This is what I would call a “timeless episode” because our views remain unchanged even after a year. I will argue that our views will not change even after a decade. I suspect it is because we are running into a foundational issue, albeit from a different angle, that the universal truth is that humans do indeed suck.
Yet we humans are very resilient and versatile when no other choice presents itself. And so, with these two contrasting truths, I have no idea what to make of our situation.
For example, I keep thinking about this question (after listening to the episode): While we suffer a decline in our quality of life, there are places where the promise of the social contract is at least recognized (e.g. Nordic nations). The idea of “work hard and you will be rewarded” is laughably naïve here in the States, but perhaps in other societies this still holds true. My inquiry is the following: for those that are a developed country that also have an upward trend in their quality of life, do they also harbor ill resentment of the status-quo system? Do they subscribe to the anti-work/anti-ambition mindset? Do they see the same universal truth that humans do indeed suck? Or are they happy with their social contract?
While we keep moving up the technology ladder and upgrading from brutish machines to smart AI servo-motored robotics, we (as a nation) seem incapable of addressing the political and human issues. We Min-Maxed on Technology while leaving Wisdom at absolute zero. To borrow another analogy: we missed leg day for far too long. This combination of advancement in human labor replacement while also removing social safety nets and/or neglecting retraining will not bode well for our immediate future, and it may prove to be nightmarish for the next generation if we continue to remain on autopilot.
And I think this conclusion (in its own right) means that the second universal truth is that while money is fiction, power is most definitely not. And in many ways, individuals being deemed viewed as worthy via “productivity” is a cross-product from the current vectors of Money and Time. To answer your question about what else could be money-adjacent, I believe that Power is the closest corollary. And honestly that is much more disturbing in my humble opinion.
As far as teaching my children what to do about our dystopian society, the answer is the same as what Japan has discovered decades ago: compete to win and try not to be a god damn psychopath.
