> I think in large part, automation/technology has made most work unimportant.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, though I find it sad that most people think it's a bad thing. In most cases, at least the way I see it, automation intends to do away with menial (human) work.
If I had to describe the true social value of technology, I'd say it resides in its ability to let us concentrate on more interesting problems, put our efforts somewhere else, for the greater benefit.
But there seems to be a ruling set of values in our society dictating that we have to have one job, between such and such hours, and that the more you do so, the more you can have a "career". This is a gross simplification, but I honestly think it isn't that far from the truth. We've intertwined time and value so poorly that we think time itself has value, whatever we do with it (looking at you crippling bureaucracy).
In an (my) ideal society, people who don't need to produce more work at any given time would add value to other areas of society by achieving different tasks for different people or learning something new.
I'd like to see more architects, electricians, plumbers, car makers etc. go into schools and show kids what they do, show University students what their purely academic professors can't. I'd like to see more theoretical mathematicians learn about the wonders of growing vegetables. I'd like to see people who generate and get actual value from others, rather than constantly proxy it through money, idle time and displays of self-importance.
I find our society tends to formalize everything, and that of course includes jobs, even when it's not necessary. The intent seems to be able to measure everything from productivity to worth, even though both these things are themselves penalized by the activity of measuring/observing them. I'm a fierce advocate of science and technology, but that certainly doesn't mean we're compelled to measure everything in controlled conditions.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, though I find it sad that most people think it's a bad thing. In most cases, at least the way I see it, automation intends to do away with menial (human) work.
If I had to describe the true social value of technology, I'd say it resides in its ability to let us concentrate on more interesting problems, put our efforts somewhere else, for the greater benefit.
But there seems to be a ruling set of values in our society dictating that we have to have one job, between such and such hours, and that the more you do so, the more you can have a "career". This is a gross simplification, but I honestly think it isn't that far from the truth. We've intertwined time and value so poorly that we think time itself has value, whatever we do with it (looking at you crippling bureaucracy).
In an (my) ideal society, people who don't need to produce more work at any given time would add value to other areas of society by achieving different tasks for different people or learning something new.
I'd like to see more architects, electricians, plumbers, car makers etc. go into schools and show kids what they do, show University students what their purely academic professors can't. I'd like to see more theoretical mathematicians learn about the wonders of growing vegetables. I'd like to see people who generate and get actual value from others, rather than constantly proxy it through money, idle time and displays of self-importance.
I find our society tends to formalize everything, and that of course includes jobs, even when it's not necessary. The intent seems to be able to measure everything from productivity to worth, even though both these things are themselves penalized by the activity of measuring/observing them. I'm a fierce advocate of science and technology, but that certainly doesn't mean we're compelled to measure everything in controlled conditions.