Comment by SequoiaHope
14 hours ago
I actually just think every person should have their basic survival provided for efficiently by society. My argument is that most people only veg out because they are tired of a hectic work life, but if given the chance to coast for a long time they would find productive work voluntarily and be more inclined to share their work. My claim then, is that society would net a benefit from this arrangement which would more than pay for itself. And you don’t have to try to pick winners and losers.
I think everyone deserves the opportunity. Most will still veg out even if they had no minimum wage blue collar monotonous job. But everyone deserves a chance. Some people are born into it and have no chance. While I was lucky to have a supportive financially stable family through no work of my own yet I wasted it all scrolling my phone.
It's very unlikely anyone with the intelligence to contribute to math research can't already find a non-hectic job that provides for their basic survival. People choose hectic jobs because they want to do better than basic survival.
This is such an insane take I don’t even know where to start. Even in the western world people increasingly need to work more than one job / have multiple incomes to live a life where basic necessities are given, and some luxuries are attainable (read: vacation, not rolex). That’s without children, in rich countries. That isn’t even touching on the problems someone e.g. from a lower caste in India might face. Asserting that „everyone with the intelligence to contribute to math“ would be able to just “find a job” that would them also contribute to the field is completely detached from reality.
People working multiple jobs in the western world have some reason beyond "basic survival". Supporting other people, living in a desirable location, or like the vast majority of people they want to make enough money to go beyond basic survival because basic survival is low status. Which is why the idea that all we have to do is give people enough money for a basic survival lifestyle and they'll be happy and spend the rest of their time on things with perceived aesthetic value like math research is the insane take.
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I think this mostly comes down to what work is productive for a person. People who are fascinated by research topics are likely to work on them and people who are enamoured with creating art will do so. But people who's productivity was largely being some cog in some machine will be all too happy to say good riddance.
> I actually just think every person should have their basic survival provided for efficiently by society
Define basic survival. Tantalum mine worker in the Congo who earns 22 cents per hour and raises his three children on that money, is he under "basic survival" level or below?
And to be clear, as a part of a society, are you ready to forgo your salary, except maybe 1 dollar per hour, to provide to other people? Why haven’t you done it yet?
> Define basic survival.
The amount of money that current local economy can provide to everybody sustainably, given the appropriate arrangements in the system.
> My argument is that most people only veg out because they are tired of a hectic work life, but if given the chance to coast for a long time they would find productive work voluntarily and be more inclined to share their work
We have natural experiments of this: retirees, both early and otherwise. Do retirees during the first five years of their retirement "find productive work voluntarily" (your choice of words, not mine) in quantities that are comparable to what they did at work during the five years prior to their retirement? Not exceptional individuals, but on average.
I retired circa five years ago and spend my time doing stuff like walking the dog, drinking coffee and reading books, much like other retirees. My productivity is as close to zero as I can muster, and it is the rule, not the exception.
There's an obvious bias in focusing on retirees though. I mean, the whole notion of retirement exists for a reason.
But also, in all honesty, if we can feed and shelter everyone on the planet with only a small proportion of the population engaged in productive labor, what's the problem with most people walking the dog, drinking coffee, and reading books?
> There's an obvious bias in focusing on retirees though. I mean, the whole notion of retirement exists for a reason.
Go on, please. Whatever argument you make, please account for early retirees as well.
> if we can feed and shelter everyone on the planet with only a small proportion of the population engaged in productive labor
But that is not the premise of the discussion at hand, though. My comment was written in this specific context:
>>> My argument is that most people only veg out because they are tired of a hectic work life, but if given the chance to coast for a long time they would find productive work voluntarily