Comment by RugnirViking

I disagree that ancient work was uninteresting. If you've ever looked at truly old architecture, walls, carvings etc you can see that people really took pride in their work, adding things that absolutely weren't just pure utility. In my mind that's the sign of someone that considers their work interesting.

But in general, in the past there was much less specialization. That means each individual was responsible for a lot more stuff, and likely had a lot more varied work day. The apprentice blacksmith didn't just hammer out nail after nail all day with no breaks. They made all sorts of tools, cutlery, horseshoes. But they also carried water, operated bellows, went to fetch coke etc, sometimes even spending days without actually hammering metal at all - freeing up mental energy and separation to be able to enjoy it when they actually got to do it.

Similarly, farm laborers had massively varied lives. Their daily tasks of a given week or month would look totally different depending on the season, with winter essentially being time off to go fix or make other stuff because you can't do much more than wait to make plants grow faster

People might make the criticism and say "oh but that was only for rich people/government" etc, but look at for example old street lights, bollards etc. Old works tend to be

Specialization allows us to curse ourselves with efficiency, and a curse it is indeed. Now if you're good at hammering nails, nails are all you'll get, morning to night, and rewarded the shittier and cheaper and faster you make your nails, sucking all incentive to do any more than the minimum