Okay let’s do an experiment.
Get some annoying trust fund kid, take all their money away from them, and tell them that they now have to get a job but it’s a good thing because now their life has meaning. Let’s see how happy they are about it.
Comment on American attitudes about AI today mirror poll answers about the rise of the internet in the '90s
anachrohack@lemmy.world 9 months agoI think there is no possible world where people are without meaningful work and are happy about it. Even if they collected $10,000 a month and got to spend all of their time doing hobbies and spending time with family, it would feel pointless and hollow. Why have a family? Why raise children? Why do anything if there’s no struggle, if you’re not the one providing for your kids? I think if AI replaces humans in the workplace, even with UBI, humans would cease to exist shortly thereafter as our lives will have become meaningless
echodot@feddit.uk 9 months ago
anachrohack@lemmy.world 9 months ago
How about you give them a wife and kids to take care of at the same time. Life would feel pretty pointless if I was only working to support myself
echodot@feddit.uk 9 months ago
I really don’t know why you’re arguing about this because there have been actual experiments where people have been given UBI and pretty much everyone ends up just going and doing their own stuff. I’ve never heard of anyone complaining about being given free money.
anachrohack@lemmy.world 9 months ago
If we did UBI today, then yeah, I see people finding roles for themselves in society that aren’t measured by dollars. I mean if we live in a world where AI has replaced not just coding jobs but has basically replaced all jobs. Cooking, cleaning, factories, farming, etc.
I dont see a point in such a world. What am I contributing? Not to my employer; what am I contributing to my family? What is my job if not to provide for my family?
Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 9 months ago
I think there is no possible world where people are without meaningful work and are happy about it.
–>
Even if they collected $10,000 a month and got to spend all of their time doing hobbies and spending time with family, it would feel pointless and hollow.
What is the difference between “hobby” and “work” if not what random people decide what is better monetised?
Both is labour & value added.
In a world where everyone gets enough money people could do what they actually want. So a CEO wouldn’t be “stuck” being a CEO if they don’t like that job & would rather be eg a baker. In the current system bcs of a huge pay divergence you get an unhappy CEO (who ofc won’t quit) and an unhappy baker that just couldn’t get a more suited paying job.
But we as a society would get a lot more out of life & cultural progression if people would be happy & satisfied at what they do (job=hobby).
Empirical evidence (even USA did extensive tests in the 60s) show that given a universal income (so basically no scarcity) basically nobody just sits around watching TV all day, everyone is productive (research, art, services, etc).
Imagine only having customer support or food industry workers that truly enjoy their job & want to do it.
Labour is what we all benefit from.
Work is what the employer/owner benefits from.LWD@lemm.ee 9 months ago
[deleted]anachrohack@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Yes, I think people define themselves by their roles, especially men
ICastFist@programming.dev 9 months ago
You have a very limited view of what life should, or even can be.
anachrohack@lemmy.world 9 months ago
It’s not a normative statement. I don’t necessarily think it’s good. I just don’t think people can be happy being useless
Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 9 months ago
Even if so - the definition of oneself is what that person gets paid for, not what that person enjoys doing?
… like, lmao, except if it’s like a weird grinding kink or something.
OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 9 months ago
That’s a sign of toxic culture, not of men wanting to be defined by what value they can bring.
anachrohack@lemmy.world 9 months ago
No it’s biology
Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 9 months ago
*monetary value
(bcs value that people actuality bring to society often isn’t fairly valued in terms of money or even not at all)
jmankman@lemmy.myserv.one 9 months ago
You’re so right, how can I find meaning without making somebody else’s money for them? Woe is me…
anachrohack@lemmy.world 9 months ago
It’s not about making money, it’s about contributing to society, supporting your family. Being useful
CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I think people would find new ways to struggle that they actually enjoy and would likely end up contributing. Imagine a couple of thousand people with their new modest but stress free budgets decide to join a yearly potato cannon contest, Sure its not going to invent anything new directly but you now have a bunch of people learning about ballistics and stoichiometry and high pressure engineering all egging eachother on to shoot that potato further. The competition gets more and more fierce and with the much lower stakes people start trying some more out there ideas, before you know it you have a modest but highly effective solution to reliably obtaining the correct gas mixture for something like a combined light gas gun.
And that’s a deliberately silly example, you’d get a ton more art, people deciding to be athletes, coders, all sorts of hobies that can encourage healthy competition and often benefit society in surprising ways.
anachrohack@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Art and Coding would be seen as quaint in a world where AI can produce more of it faster and better than a human ever hoped. You’d know in the back of your mind that what you are doing is pointless