this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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Antiwork
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We're trying to reduce the numbers of hours a person has to work.
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We talk about the end of paid work being mandatory for survival.
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What I'm saying is that there is no need to think of it in terms of anyone owing or being owed anything, and in fact it is better not to do so.
As for the rest of it, no matter how you stack it it's a basic fact that per-capita productivity is many times higher than in the past when sustained survival was the focus of the majority of work. Most work today is not done for that, or is done inefficiently (ie. meat production). There is no reason it should be logistically impossible to make basic needs a guarantee using a fraction of economic output.
So why are these people whom you intend to have working the farms (and all the other people required to make those farms work, as explained earlier) going to just give you their food while you take a nap?
And infant mortality is many times lower, life expectancies are way longer, basic comfort (say, being able to read at night, or even read if you are one of the many people who needs glasses) etc. All of which require a large coordinated system. Is your suggestion that doctors (for example) should spend decades training for the heck of it while you hang out on a beach? Or that heck with it, we don't need no stinkin' doctors?
What exactly are you advocating?
I covered that earlier. They get payment, recognition, and generally everything people want out of careers (except for survival, which is guaranteed regardless).
Universal free healthcare is reality in many countries and does not entail the enslavement of doctors. I do think lowering the requirements and expense of becoming a doctor and practicing medicine would be a good idea though.
As for all the trappings of consumer society that people consider part of a normal life, it doesn't all have to be on the table. I think plenty of people would happily do more things for themselves and give up non-essential comforts if it meant freedom from wage slavery. People can cook their own food, they can learn to fix their own sinks, or earn money to pay for that stuff.
UBI
Those are all repayments of debt. That's literally how payment works. I work at a hospital, hospital is in debt to me for however many hours I worked.
If I don't have to work to have my needs met, why would I work on a farm? Those are hard hours (by necessity, talk to a farmer, it's wild.) If we're going to give them payment and recognition, there need to be things to purchase with that payment that are worth it. Those things don't come from thin air.
If the choice is wake up and go to work or hang out, bliss out on drugs and chill, how many people are going to take the former?
True, we have universal healthcare in my country. We also have to work and pay heavier taxes to pay for that. It's a fair trade. But it takes up a huge chunk of the budget. If a large chunk of the workforce doesn't feel like working AND we're paying them not to, well the system doesn't really work.
Ahhh groovy, a million untrained plumbers and electricians surely won't cause problems!
Anyway, I'm just not cut out for this sub. I stumbled on it using all and frankly, this just reminds me of the silliness we used to vehemently discuss when I was stoned high schooler. The world is way more complex than any of us understood at the time. I don't think the system as it exists is perfect but this "counter" feels like a pretty silly rebuttal.
I don't think I'm being flippant by saying this. I've lived an extremely minimal lifestyle for my whole adult life and do all of the maintenance and repairs on my home. Some things are unsafe to do without professional input, but the majority of services people pay for are things they could realistically have learned to do themselves instead or gone without. Food preparation deserves a special mention here, most people spend a ridiculous amount not cooking for themselves.
Sure, but keep my first statement there in context. What I'm saying isn't about an employment contract. It's about applying the framework of debt to the birth and existence of a person. To think of their survival needs as a debt they owe to whoever has worked to provide those. That isn't a healthy way to extend the metaphor, your life is not a financial contract and should not be treated as one.
Knowing what tradeoffs most people are comfortable with I strongly believe a majority would feel like working. The tradeoff is worth it because the current reality of effectively forcing people to work at threat of death is just that bad morally, and causes a variety of other serious problems that would resolve themselves if we stopped doing that. For instance, people in abusive situations being financially unable to escape.
I feel like the objection people have normally isn't really about whether people actually would really react by lazing around and not working, but a sense that it is unjust if this is an option for them. I don't have a way of persuading anyone to feel differently about that, but I will point out that a UBI would also give people who work more freedom and negotiating power because it means they can say no.
Hey, I'm a grown adult and only mildly stoned :) Anyway I'm not a regular in this sub either, this is my first time posting here afaik and a lot of common views here I really disagree with, so don't take what I'm saying as an indication.
I'm struggling to understand why you're struggling to understand this.
Maybe it would help if someone could answer the question, "What exactly are you advocating?"
All I'm pointing out is that food doesn't just get to your table on its own. A lot of people have to make that happen. Either you're expecting they give it to you out of the goodness of their hearts or they owe you food for being born. In other words, the point seems to be "I don't want to owe anyone for food but everyone owes me food!"
I don't buy that you actually think this
Okay.