The Laborless Society

"Whoever is not in the possession of leisure can hardly be said to possess independence. They talk of the dignity of work. Piffle. True Work is the necessity of poor humanity's earthly condition. The dignity is in leisure. Besides,the majority of all the work done in the world is either foolish and unnecessary, or harmful and wicked."

I've always liked that quote by Melville.

As an artist I personally begrieve the fact that I must often put my art aside in order to work a thankless and shallow job. I'm happiest when I'm unemployed and I'm most PRODUCTIVE artistically when I'm unemployed because I have the time and the energy to be creative. But I think this probably only applies to visual artists, writers, and musicians.

I think part of the problem with both sides of the debate at this point is that everyone is speaking in absolutes. There will never - in my opinion - be complete, national unemployment because there ARE a few freaks out there that validate their existences via their careers. They want to work and they like to work, and they would probably gladly be part of the population that goes to work in this pseudo utopia. Maybe they just don't work fifty hours a week, is the thing.

Not all rich people are unhappy - not even most of them. I know quite a few affluent people who are very happy with themselves. Inversely, I'm dirt poor and miserable because of it. So are a lot of people.

Something will someday HAVE to be done as automation increases but I think it's a long way off - as in well after we're all dead.

Jam it back in, in the dark.