We live in an age of technological wonder and plenty. One person can today do the work of hundreds in the past, when it comes to agriculture and food production. Despite this, the number of people who genuinely want to perform labour far exceeds that needed to sustain our society at its current level of plenty.
The human species has evolved to live and thrive, and it is through the labour of producing food, shelter, and family that human beings live. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that such an organism would have evolved to take great personal pleasure in useful labour. And that is exactly what we see. Put a human being in a useful job, and so long as they can live comfortable and take some ownership of their labour value, they are immensely happy. Put a human being in a useless job, and they are miserable. Under current capitalist conditions it is estimated that 50% of people currently work jobs that provide no benefit to society. And yet our species is still alive.
If we were to eliminate capitalism and focus our labour on solely useful pursuits, such as production, education, love, support, logistics, and planning, then we would have far more than we have today. And if we were to do such a thing there would be no requirement that everybody work, just as there is no requirement at our current level of production.
The human race can easily, EASILY survive on the labour of just those who wish to work of their own free will. Of those who would get bored sitting around all day. So as to those who actually want to sit around all day - why not let them?
To force someone to work is slavery. That is the very definition at its most fundamental. And I for one do not wish to live in a society founded upon mass slavery. Especially not when we have the means to do otherwise.
End compulsory work.
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Why is Bob killing himself in a society where work isn’t compulsory? Oh, crikey, is Bob feeling suicidal? Is he throwing himself into his work to avoid thinking about interpersonal issues or trauma? Does he have a work addiction? Yikes, we need to get Bob some therapy right away. It sounds like he should talk these issues out with a therapist. Maybe some anti anxiety medication would calm that sense of worry that he’s trying to drown out with work. Hopefully we can get Bob back to a healthy workweeki before his addiction takes too much out of him. Maybe he can hang out with his neighbour Sam, who knows how to have fun and relax. That could do some real good for Bob and possibly save his life. I’m glad Bob has a nice friend like Sam to teach him better.
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We have 8 billion people to handle it, and the good news is, not everyone in the world is the same as you. You might be disgusted by the thought of working in sanitation, but I’ve done it, and I liked it. I got to listen to podcasts all day. There’s millions of people doing it today who like it.
If your theory that capitalism is the only reason people work in sanitation were true, then sanitation workers would get paid better than doctors.
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