An interesting read on the positives and negatives of an increasingly automated world and where to go from here.
"The paradox of work is that many people hate their jobs, but they are considerably more miserable doing nothing." I know the feeling. The restaurant I work for shut down for a week due to historicly low sales in this period, and I've already gotten a bit bored of not working. However, it's because I legitimately (my own fault) did nothing. Given a longer time span I'm sure I would have started focusing my energies into something creative or any number of hobbies that I wouldn't have considered otherwise. So long as our needs are met as humans there's a billion ways to feel satisfied without work. Build something, create something new, see something you never have before. I really think I'd travel, given the time to do so, and assuming the "post-work" world gave me the means, in whatever way.
The idea that we are already developing more passive forms of leisure via social media and games is probably true. It's often funny to me that our numbers for daily visits to Hubski drop off every weekend. People use social media at work. They recreate on the weekend. Much of this article is pretty old hat, but still I find it interesting. We definitely over value work and under value leisure, particularly in the U.S.
I think there have to be better forms of "mental breaks" though. It's definitely a "work break" but is it a "mental break?" It takes time and mental energy for me to consume content online and even more so if I'm going to comment or add to the content. Ideally, I would make more time for quiet meditation, allowing my mind to actually take a break and turn off the internal dialog/thought engine.
It would be very interesting to see office-type jobs (including jobs like programming) add silent rooms for meditation or even naps (I know Google offered something like that, but no idea about the rest of the industry). Giving people the freedom to take a break whenever they need it and to recharge in that way seems like something that could be very beneficial to both employees and the company. The only problem is that it's somewhat incompatible to a culture where everyone is being micro-managed, so I could see that being a big obstacle.
This was such a good read. I think people need to be productive in a bigger way to be truly happy / content with their life. I know this is especially true for me—I just returned from a 10 day vacation with a solid 3-5 hours of work each night and I was still on the verge of boredom / anxiety about the lack of productivity I had each day. If we don't have to work in the traditional sense, we will still need to find something to do in order to feel like we are contributing to something besides ourselves.
So you continued to work 3-5 per day while on vacation? Is this work on a personal project or for an employer? I just finished a weeks vacation where I did not do a single minute of work, or even check email. This was not the case in the past. I'm so glad I did. Sure, there were things waiting for me when I got back, even a minor emergency. But the world didn't end and my coworkers appreciated that I was back so I could resume my duties.
I quit my 9-5 last year so I work for myself 100% now. Of course I wish I could have not worked the entire time, but I had a website to launch, a new website to supervise, videos to convert, and clients who need their hands held. While it sucks to work on vacation, invoicing ~10k the day you get back from vacation ain't too shabby. It is a completely different mentality when you work for yourself vs work for a company. Every hour of my day could or could not be billable. It is 100% up to me how much or how little I want to work, what clients I would like to keep billing, which projects I want to take, etc. I will say it's a lot easier to fuck off and go to the beach when you aren't counting the money you could have made by not going to the beach.
Nice read. At least when you are working during your vacation, it is to your direct benefit. It's upsetting when you see salaried employees pressured to work during vacations and after hours (I've been there). It seems like there's a bit of trade-off, but one that seems to be working for you.
CGPgrey's video goes along well with this article. I've talked to some people about this and many believe that automation is a big problem for jobs, but almost everyone didn't think that a post-work society could ever happen.
I learned today that I'm a post-workist. The more you know! But in all seriousness, I can definitely relate to this quote: "Purpose, meaning, identity, fulfillment, creativity, autonomy—all these things that positive psychology has shown us to be necessary for well-being are absent in the average job." In order to pay the bills, I took on two jobs after college that I absolutely despised. They paid incredibly well, but I lost a little bit of my soul every day. Now that I'm free (and currently unemployed...yikes!), I'm much more creative. I have the time to learn a new instrument, to read, to write, and to exercise. I am so much happier and fulfilled now than when I was pressured to fit into the 9 to 5 lifestyle. I'm also not making any money, so there's the catch, I suppose. :(
I don't even have a real job (internship) and I'm already not satisfied. I feel like something is missing and everyday I just look forward to going home although my workplace is really great. Sometimes it makes me think if I am just being ungrateful for not being able to be like everybody doing a 9-5 job. :/
Oh no, I'm sorry. Are you interning in a career you enjoy? In my case, I fell into two jobs that I had no interest in pursuing, so I'm sure that played a factor in how much I despised them. If you are, don't blame yourself! I think you'd be surprised to find out how many people begrudgingly go to work every day.
Yeah, I enjoy it. That's why I feel like such an ungrateful person :| Nature and animals is what makes me truly happy.
What a fascinating and well written article. I feel as though the transfer to a "post-work" society will allow us time to reflect on life and consider ideas/hobbies/pursuits that otherwise we may not. Which in my view will be net positive for the individual as well as society. On a related note, if Aubrey de Grey's postulations come to fruition, we could be living a lot longer too.
Sadly, most of our representatives just don't understand the power of technology and the dramatic change it can bring to our landscape. Increasing wages will only push the need for corporations to invest more into artificial intelligence. The roll out for A.I. will be slow, maybe even too slow to raise any red flags. I worry not for me, but for my daughter generation. There future will be the one effected my this change in the workforce landscape. I better start teaching her a program language now to prepare her for the difficult future.
This reminds me of Martin Ford's Lights In The Tunnel, but the consequences of advancing automation technologies and artificial intelligence are broader than that. Thinking about how to organize society where traditional labor has less value is important, but perhaps more important is the existential threat hidden in the creation of artificial general intelligence. For a long discussion on that you might want to see Nick Bostrom's Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. The main thrust of Nick's concern is that artificial intelligence is improving at a much faster rate than human intelligence is, and that an agent or species of agents that far surpass humans in general intelligence will have great power over the future of humanity. I think Mr Bostrom speculates a bit too much upon plausible conjectures, but this one key concern seems valid to me. I feel that the only workable strategy for tackling the control problem would be to merge the development of artificial intelligence with the development of human intelligence or to bring the development of cognitive enhancement technologies in humans up to speed with the development of artificial intelligence. I feel so strongly about this that I am pursuing a career in cognitive and neural engineering to try to make this happen. To me it seems inevitable that humanity-as-is will be transcended. The question I ponder is whether we will be replaced completely or evolve into something new ourselves.
So, I'm interested in this idea that while we dislike work, we get bored or dislike it even more when we have no responsibilities at all. I've definitely experienced the same phenomenon myself, and it's kind of worrying to think that I might not be happy without work. There's a single spectrum onto which nearly every quirk of human behavior can be tracked, the nature vs nurture spectrum. On one extreme we might say "the need to work is biologically built into humanity and can be purged no more than our need for socialization" and on the other we might say "a long tradition and culture that work is fulfilling and the unemployed are contemptible has made us as a society uncomfortable with not working." Of course, many things are a little of column A, a little of column B. So if this is primarily or totally a nurture issue, it will pretty much sort itself out. Our generation may feel a bit melancholy about it, but our kids will grow up never having felt like they needed to work. If this is primarily a nature issue, we have a bit more serious problem on our hands - we will need to figure out a way to replace working for pay with something else meaningful and productive. It would be difficult to set up, but if we could somehow introduce the idea of working as communities towards a better world, that would be ideal, I think. Maybe instead of working forty hours a week, we volunteer at a nonprofit for a few hours. What do you guys think?
The nature vs nurture debate makes me think of North American culture. Growing up in Canada, the majority of opinions thrown at me were: explore, have some fun, but ultimately get a career that will give you a good salary and benefits. There was a 5 year or so gap after university that I had to play with, then I felt the pressures to grow up and choose something. I have this suspicion that European cultures appreciate art, recreation, travel, and a life outside of work more. I think North Americans love to define ourselves based on our jobs and incomes. Maybe this is just wishful thinking. But, a culture that teaches you that success is gained through employment will inevitably cause depression/ laziness/ tv-watching zombieness when that is not being accomplished. Thoughts?
Well, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi thought people were happiest in a state of what he called "flow". He defined flow as a "state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation." In his book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" he actually goes into depth about flow and how it explains the work paradox. Work provides a platform for people to dedicate their focus and achieve flow. At home, flow states are rarely achieved because leisure is often comprised of activities that don't require much attention or focus. This would explain why people complain about work all the time but have poorer moods and are more anxious during leisure time. Personally, I feel that the response to the work paradox shouldn't be believing that work is absolutely necessary in order to be content. I think it just means we should pay much more attention to how we spend our leisure time.
I think the whole idea of "work" needs to be re-defined. Let's say you're not currently employed. Does that mean you don't "work"? For some, yes. Some people are not motivated to do anything when they're unemployed. Other people keep themselves busy with whatever interests them. I would consider that work. Your idea of working at a nonprofit is one way of keeping one's self busy. I think people should be able to pursue whatever interests them, and in that way they can contribute to society.
Very good read, indeed. Reminded me to watch the third Zeitgeist again for some reason. Pursuing one's dream without worrying about monetary status. That's be it. I hope my kids, if I ever have some, will be able to partake in such a societal structure.