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The Meaning of Life
The meaning of life is to make this world a little nicer, more beautiful and maybe more interesting, mainly through what we do.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
Economists have been long worried that automation will take away our jobs. As old kinds of jobs disappear due to technology and automation, new kinds of work started emerging.
The rising cases of stress and burnout due to more hours of work is contrary to what should have happened due to automation: less working hours.
A growing number of workers are increasingly dissatisfied and underwhelmed with their seemingly fancy job profiles as bankers, tax-advisors, and all the garden variety managers, whose job is to add to the bottom line of a company.
These kinds of jobs don't add value to the world and serve no real purpose.
Such work can start to appear pointless to a lot of people.
If the definition of real work changes, with the real benefits of automation and technology (like the Universal Basic Income) providing us the Utopia that is long-promised, then we may start to do work that is meaningful.
RELATED IDEAS
Most work today is akin to a 'pin factory' where workers keep working a small, repetitive task all day.
Performing a narrow range of mental or physical actions in a job hampers our personal, intellectual and social growth.
Aristotle wrote that the fundamental part of a meaningful life is found in mastery, be it art, intellect, or athletics. Pursuing excellence is not always pleasant and requires exertion, not constant entertainment.
A study found that people who continually developed themselves scored higher on assessments of life satisfaction and self-esteem than those who did not.
- In 1885, socialist William Morris proposed that in the factories of the future, employees should work only four hours a day.
- In 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that advances in technology would lead to an age of leisure where people might work 15 hours a week.
- Since the early 2010s, these ideas have been developed further, creating a growing critique of work as an ideology, and exploring alternatives to work.
- Post-work offers enormous promises: In a life of much less work, life would be calmer, more equal, more communal, more pleasurable, more thoughtful, more politically engaged, more fulfilled.