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Read this interesting essay written by DEREK THOMPSON
For centuries, experts have predicted that machines would make workers obsolete. That moment may finally be arriving. Could that be a good thing ?
The end of work is still just a futuristic concept for most of the United States, but it is something like a moment in history for Youngstown, Ohio, one its residents can cite with precision: September 19, 1977.
For much of the 20th century, Youngstown's steel mills delivered such great prosperity that the city was a model of the American dream, boasting a median income and a home ownership rate that were among the nation's highest. But as manufacturing shifted abroad after World War II, Youngstown steel suffered, and on that gray September afternoon in 1977, Youngstown Sheet and Tube announced the shuttering of its Campbell Works mill. Within five years, the city lost 50,000 jobs and $1.3 billion in manufacturing wages. The effect was so severe that a term was coined to describe the fallout: regional depression.
Youngstown was transformed not only by an economic disruption but also by a psychological and cultural breakdown. Depression, spousal abuse, and suicide all became much more prevalent; the caseload of the area's mental-health center tripled within a decade. The city built four prisons in the mid-1990s—a rare growth industry. One of the few downtown construction projects of that period was a museum dedicated to the defunct steel industry.
The future will tell us whether or not this pans out as he envisions. What does SN think will happen ?
Original Submission
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @04:31PM
Whats this preoccupation with "no work"?
Some people and races enjoy work. They take pride in their skills and their work and wish to produce something of value to everyone. The world did not make as much progress as it did because people only did what was enough to feed them that day. Prosperity did not take off because people only thought of themselves. A time of "not having to work" is totally incomprehensible to some people.
And then there are those who only think for themselves, how they can attain more power and wealth. They buy and sell, but produce nothing. They are the parasites that keep telling people of "the time is coming when you will not have to work, because that is what we all want, don't we?". By constantly sending this message to young and generally impressionable people, they hope to keep people from achieving their absolute best, and so that people will start to "hate" work and only do any mindless, shitty jobs so that can feed themselves. And stop thinking of the general good of humanity. And to try and get away from work as much as possible.
Well, wrong idea, I tell you. I would rather die than not work. I enjoy work and most of you do as well. And the time where there will be prosperity for everyone is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. EVER!!! Learn to see past the propaganda and see your enemy!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 25 2015, @07:04PM
The difference between work and hobby is that you have to do one and want to do the other. If you look at it that way, it should be easy to see why people are fantasizing about less or no work: Not wanting to work is almost the definition (not quite, it is possible to want to do what you have to do, but most people are not that lucky).
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Thursday June 25 2015, @07:18PM
I agree with you about humans wanting to work and be useful. However, prosperity for all is completely possible. Well, I guess it depends on your definition of prosperity... Can all humans have quality food/shelter/health care/transportation? Yes.
Can every human have their own private jet? No.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 1) by aebonyne on Thursday June 25 2015, @07:23PM
There's a very big difference between needing to work and therefore taking any work you can find and pursuing a creative endeavor you enjoy. I know far more people with a day job unrelated to their desired creative endeavors than people who are actually able to support themselves on them. "No work"---perversely---means more opportunities to create things of value to other people, not fewer.
Centralization breaks the internet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 26 2015, @05:10AM
"Cultures" would both more be accurate and less have less semantic baggage than "races".