A great deal of harm is being done in the modern world
by belief in the virtuousness of work.
— Bertrand Russell
Ayn Randers go ballistic when Silicon Valley billionaires suggest a universal basic income would drive innovation and equality.
Can underwritten idleness ever be virtuous?
Watch an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and you'll say no.
But philosopher Bertrand Russell—spared an encounter with Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall and Kylie—thought it could.
In his essay his 1932 essay "In Praise of Idleness," Russell argued that overwork is overrated; and idleness, underrated.
With automation, Russell said, people need work no more than four hours a day to contribute fairly and earn their keep—leaving them ample time to study, think, play, and practice crafts. And as they do, innovation, charity, happiness and peace will flourish.
With automation, Russell said, people need work no more than four hours a day to contribute fairly and earn their keep—leaving them ample time to study, think, play, and practice crafts. And as they do, innovation, charity, happiness and peace will flourish.
Sound utopian?
It's not.
Russell's simple hope—after millennia of "overwork for some and starvation for others"—was for people to "stop being foolish forever."
More importantly—unless the 1% win out and revoke the 13th Amendment (a strong possibility, in my opinion)—Russell describes our future, where the "shared economy" will create enforced downshifting.
And when you consider the fact most gigs in a shared economy pay too poorly to offer liberation, the Silicon Valley CEOs might be right: a universal basic income makes sense.
For the Ayn Randers and others who think overwork confers moral worth, I have just three words.
Get a life.
from Sniply: Alltop RSS http://snip.ly/4m5ej
via Digital Marketing News