I often daydream about how society would be if we were not forced by society to pigeon hole ourselves into a specialized career for maximizing the profits of capitalists, and sell most of our time for it.
The idea of creating an entire identity for you around your “career” and only specializing in one thing would be ridiculous in another universe. Humans have so much natural potential for breadth, but that is just not compatible with capitalism.
This is evident with how most people develop “hobbies” outside of work, like wood working, gardening, electronics, music, etc. This idea of separating “hobbies” and the thing we do most of our lives (work) is ridiculous.
Here’s how my world could be different if I owned my time and dedicated it to the benefit of my own and my community instead of capitalists:
- more reading, learning and excusing knowledge with others.
- learn more handy work, like plumbing and wood working. I love customizing my own home!
- more gardening
- participate in the transportation system (picking up shifts to drive a bus for example)
- become a tour guide for my city
- cook and bake for my neighbors
- academic research
- open source software (and non-software) contributions
- pick up shifts at a café and make coffee, tea and smoothies for people
- pick up shifts to clean up public spaces, such as parks or my own neighborhood
- participate in more than one “professions”. I studied one type of engineering but work in a completely different engineering. This already proves I can do both, so why not do both and others?
Humans do not like the same thing over and over every day. It’s unnatural. But somehow we revolve our whole livelihood around if.
Let’s not be confused here. Specialization is what allows for free time. If everyone has to farm and hunt, that’s all you’d do. Specialization is a good thing for humanity and diverse institutions and industries to arise.
Yeah, OPs got the spirit but misses the point. We are being pressured to sell our time at a minimum of 40 hours every week. It’s thanks to specialization (and the technology that developed from it) that this quantity of of time is grossly over-allocated. Trade and travel allowed people to create better products in less time, so people were no longer very literally working to live, day-in, day-out. Unfortunately wages are kept low, wealth is kept centralized and culture continues to place value on excess so that we’re continually convinced that we “have” to work as many hours as we can find.
I don’t understand what you think I missed. When I said “specialization”, I meant the idea of just doing one thing and one thing only as a “career”. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t specialize or that people won’t. But if I specialize in construction labor, with the extra time awarded to me I could also participate in design if I wanted.
Yes, but if we only have to work on our specializations for 16 hours a week each instead of 40+, we would have a lot more time for other good stuff, whether it’s personal development, supporting other specialists, or just hanging out.
i’ve worked for 20h/w and 40h/w. i think 30/32 is a good balance
Not everyone has to farm and hunt. It was more than 200,000 years ago that humanity figured out how not to get all of us to farm and hunt, way before capitalism ever was a thing.
Speicalization in the context I used does not mean “be an expert at a thing”. It means “Spend most of your time doing just that one thing”. I can see why you were confused, I think my use of “pigeon-holed” was probably better than specializetion.
But the same result would occur in socialism. Even communism. I don’t know what you expect to happen in any societal economic structure that would suddenly give you the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want. Jobs existed the same way all the way back then as they do now. And that was the birth of capitalism, not before it. Most didn’t own their land. It belonged to a king or emperor. Sure there are exceptions and caveats, but to say capitalism didn’t exist back then isn’t accurate. Capitalism isn’t bad. It’s how it’s implemented that makes it awful. I think we need to migrate to socialism via capitalism. But it requires winning of the minds of the populace and that won’t happen until folks have an accurate understanding of both capitalism and whatever system you want them to transition to. I don’t even know what system you’re supporting with your question. It sounds like you’re trying to describe some sort of star trek utopia that supposedly is advanced beyond economic systems (yet how many episodes revolved around trade deals between planets and races… but I digress).
Jobs existed the same way all the way back then as they do now.
Are you arguing that ancient societies had “jobs”, and in the same way that we do nowadays? I don’t intend to be rude (and sorry if I come off that way), but a simple Google search will tell you that’s false, but I’d be glad to cite you exact resources as well.
And that was the birth of capitalism
While the exact beginning of capitalism may be a subject of a little debate, no expert on the matter believes it goes that far back. Again, simple Google search reveals it, and I’ll be glad to cite you resources if you want.
Most didn’t own their land. It belonged to a king or emperor.
This wasn’t always true. There was a time that preceded class society. And not all class society is capitalism.
but to say capitalism didn’t exist back then isn’t accurate.
It is the scientific consensus that it did not.
I think we need to migrate to socialism via capitalism
Not sure what you mean here. Can you please elaborate?
whatever system you want them to transition to
It is simple. Instead of orienting society around profits and capital, we orient it around bettering the human condition. Instead of working our days to generate more profit for capitalists in exchange for money to buy necessities, we work to serve our interests and our own communities. So much wasted labor is suddenly removed.
Specialization has always been a thing. Probably more so before. A carpenter wouldn’t just wake up and “nah, I’d rather work with pottery today”. The carpenter probably became a carpenter because their parents passed on their carpentering skills to them, so that’s what they do until they die.
Hi Mr Smith, another loaf of your god awful bread please.
I think you misunderstood my comment. I was saying that maybe my use of specialization is incorrect here.
Money was invented before written history began.[1][2] Consequently, any story of how money first developed is mostly based on conjecture and logical inference.
We don’t actually know when money started so it’s hard to say.
But even before money the person with more stuff could acquire more stuff through barter. Even if they weren’t using money it’s still basically capitalism.
Barter being the predecessor of money is actually false, and has never been supported with sufficient evidence.
From what anthropology tells us, money was introduced by force, not by a natural tendency for humans to barter, and wanting a better way to do it.
And no, that isn’t “basically capitalism”. No “capital” involved here in the sense of capitalism.
Yes we do, money started around temple societies in the fertile crescent to control people and keep them centrally located.
Also, there is no known historical example of a purely barter economy. What’s known now is everything tended to work on an informal gift/reputation economy.
Until money came along, was typically forced upon people, and then if the money system failed, people fell back to a barter system. Neither money or barter are natural for the vast majority of human time and society
I’d still be a programmer. I’d work on open source projects 100% of the time. It’s something I love to do.
Man’s got to eat though. I still work in an area that makes the world slightly less shitty though, so it’s not all bad.
I would contribute to any activity that would ensure capitalism wouldn’t start existing.
It would be pretty difficult to bring back capitalism after its gone. It’s like someone trying to bring back feudalism today, beyond individual interactions.
Imma be honest I have no idea. I might legit just sit here and be a leech on society playing video games and watching shows. But I’d like to imagine I would go back to school and try and do freelance repair/maintenance for various things. I just honestly don’t know if I’d do enough to consider it a fair contribution to society.
I’d be that guy that makes all those useless inventions, except they’d be incredibly useful to me and like 2 other people.
That’s how many great inventions benefitting the entire world happened :)
What would allow that isn’t communism, but a “post-scarcity” society, much like Star Trek TNG. A lot of what we take for granted can only happen thanks to the commercial logistics of fucktons of materials going around.
I’d devote more time into programming, performance optimization, processor architecture and computer graphics. These things are still “magic” to me and there aren’t many resources, especially on the “bare metal” graphics part of most recent parts. Once I figured it out enough to feel confident in passing that knowledge around, I would do that in english and portuguese
One thing that I’m already doing thanks to my job giving me a decent salary for only 20h of work is my own game project. Something that I’ll probably end up selling, but I’ll probably be the first to release a pirate/free version of it, too.
Yeah it’s easy to do whatever you want as a job when matter/antimatter reactors give unlimited energy and replicators can use that limitless energy to create any object.
Part of what creates in me so much faith in communism is my profession vs my interests.
I am an engineer. If I didn’t need to sell my labor I would be an engineer who solves problems and creates progress. Since I live in America, I don’t.
It’s not much better in most places outside of America. Capitalism rules the world.
I’d be writing a lot more music
I would do loads of degrees. History, English, Psychology, Politics, Spanish, etc. Having the brain space to focus on learning would be amazing. I did my masters part time while working full time and it was a nightmare. Glad I did it but I couldn’t do my best as I was bogged down in work stuff.
I would also like to learn more languages. I do a bit of Spanish and Danish when I can but I rarely have the mental energy after work.
Travel too. Maybe write a book.
Humans do not like the same thing over and over every day.
Speak for yourself, I like routine and being rewarded for working hard.
Do you really get rewarded for working hard? Every time I’ve gone above and beyond for my job it becomes and expectation with no increase in pay. There is no reward for us “no skill” jobs that somehow are the very foundation of this god forsaken societal system we uphold.
I’ve left jobs when I don’t get rewarded for hard work. Thankfully we live in a free market that allows me to also freely choose my employer and occupation.
freely choose my employer and occupation.
As long as you meet the dozens of credentials to work for a place, as well as the 5 to 10 hidden ones they don’t tell you about in the job listing or the interview.
Credentials exist for a reason.
That sounds salty.
Are you denying it’s reality?
No, I’m skeptical because it sounds more like disillusionment.
You don’t think that companies have dozens of credentials and requirements for a job? And hidden ones as well? This is very well documented. The first one is easily verified by looking at indeed.com. I take it you’ve never applied for a job before?
Im fortunate. I love my career. I’ve been doing since I was 12 what I do for a living now at 39. I’d still do what I do if income were a non-issue.
With that being said, I’d probably only do it three days/week or so, being able to pick a more realistic balance between productivity and burnout would be great. I’d also spend that time making something I want, for me, rather than doing what I’m told. I feel like that’s significant here as well.
I think I would travel or wander a lot more. Not in an instagram backpacker kind of way, just in a dawdle from town to town road trippy kind of way.
I’ve wanted to RV across the US - spend 5-7 days in any given place - for so long.
I would write and draw more. There’s so many stories I wanna make. I might even take up some other medium like animation or something physical like sculpture or architecture. It would be fun to design spaces that don’t need to have the soul sucked out of them to appear “mature” or “professional”
I feel like the fear of not making profits and not surviving pressures me into watering down everything I do so it’s appealing to someone else. That’s why art is strictly a hobby for me and not a career I wanna pursue
I run a goth night once every other month.
I visit friends quite often whenever I want to.
I get up and start my day when I feel like it.
I play with code and build web toys.
I’m a freelance IT guy. I could, if I wanted to, earn a lot more than I do, but my time is worth more than money. It is possible to do, even in this world where everyone is told that you need a ‘career’ and to work for a company, although a lot more work is needed to freeing other careers from the obligation of the grind.
Don’t give up hope, unionise, demand respect,buy a guillotine,and keep an eye out for a way to get what you need and to contribute to society or your community without signing your life away.(Yes, some people will never get the opportunity. And that, frankly, pisses me off no end. But don’t lose hope until you’re dead.)
Your a freelance IT guy and you are suggesting to unionize? Your the guy companies use when they don’t want unions.
I don’t work for big companies, I support small businesses where a full-time IT guy doesn’t make sense, and old people who are struggling to get their internet working because their internet explorer icon disappeared. Additionally, if I was contacted by a company to cover them whilst their employees are striking, I’d turn them down.
So your suggesting the small companies don’t unionize as you got them?
Honestly your stance is a bit disingenuous. Unions do not like your model as you take away work that could be done under a union.
It’s clear you don’t understand my business. A kebab house does not hire a full time IT guy, they hire someone like me when needed. Similarly, they don’t hire a full-time plumber for their toilets, a full-time builder to repair broken tiles, or a full time electrician to repair their electronics.
As for unionising, I’d support such businesses unionising, and would not help management stop them, even if they are my clients.
Some perspective for you, because you’re looking for an enemy here: Just because I got sick of working under middle management doesn’t mean I don’t need to be able to afford food and rent. Under the current state of affairs, you have to work for someone, or you have to work for yourself. The only alternative is social support systems which differ nation to nation. If looking at the big CEOs, yeah, you’re looking at arsewipes. No way they got there without stepping on people. But the farther down you go, the more normal people you meet. Owning or running a business is not the same as taking advantage of people, and being self-employed is not the same as union busting.
I am not your enemy here, but I’m also not going to respond to you anymore. I wish you well, but this is not worth my time.
Not suggesting you are my enemy but there are union IT shops that your model would certainly take work away.
I like my job. It’s not a hobby, but it also ensures I don’t burn out in my hobbies, which happened when I initially tried to make a hobby my job.
