"Oppie" wrote in message
Actually, what you are experiencing will become the new norm, and it is a
good thing. It is a natural consequence of automation and robotics and
computer control that workers will become more productive, meaning that
the same amount of work can be done by fewer people, and the double whammy
is that the world continues to produce more people. This is to a large
extent caused by our estimation of wealth by purely material standards,
and our "Puritan work ethic" makes it seem "sinful" to be idle and enjoy
free time and recreation. We have been trained to need expensive and
disposable entertainment and communication "toys" to keep ourselves
occupied and "out of trouble". And our accepted paradigm of having two
wage earners per family, as well as the increasing number of single parent
households, has also diminished the number of jobs available.
We, as an advanced civilization, have advanced far beyond what is
necessary to keep ourselves supplied with our basic necessities of clean
air, potable water, healthy foods, shelter, and security, in roughly that
order. Thoreau said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation",
and it is probably even more true now than it was then. We really do not
need all the expensive material items that we strive to amass over our
lifetimes, especially when they are for individual use rather than shared
among many. The "rugged individualist" is not really a lofty goal, and
instead we need to embrace cooperation and sharing and interpersonal (and
intercultural) communication on a genuine face-to-face basis. Our
technology was supposed to free us from being slaves to toiling for our
means of sustenance, but materialistic capitalism thrives on increasing
consumption, and many of us have been programmed to want ever more things
as status symbols and conspicuous evidence of our vain perception of
wealth and prosperity.
Most of us can easily survive on 20% less. So if we would adopt a 4 day 32
hour work week, our 8% unemployment rate would suddenly transform into a
12% demand to fill the vacuum. If 10% of our population would change their
lifestyles to include sharing living space and expenses with another
person, their needs would diminish and it would actually be a healthier
social condition. But we may need to wean ourselves off of our concept of
individualism and isolation created and reinforced by excessive reliance
on electronic communication and entertainment, and instead adopt
lifestyles involving closer relationships with other people and the
natural world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional_community
Paul
www.newkoinonia.com
