this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
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Antiwork

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  1. We're trying to improving working conditions and pay.

  2. We're trying to reduce the numbers of hours a person has to work.

  3. We talk about the end of paid work being mandatory for survival.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

As we gain productivity, we force people out of if the workforce and get the remaining to do more than they did before using the new capabilities. What we should be doing is letting people work less.

Instead we make the "best" people work more and force "the worst" out entirely. This, then leads to the gig economy where people are working all the time just trying to get by and a growing shadow population is people who are not even really in the workforce.

It's a race to the bottom here, folks. We built this world through a shared consensus that the rich get richer and if you're not rich you're either unlucky, lazy, or both. That was based on wealth being derived from physical force. You can't fight the big guys with the clubs and bear skin armour so you try to stay on their good side and get by.

It's time to go beyond that. It will require people to not treat each other like crap if they get half a chance, though, which means we need a few generations to be without childhood trauma so they can grow up to be people who don't lead fear based lives. It's going to take some time to get there, and a realisation that that's the only way of the hamster wheel.