free time (idea)

Writeup does not mean reply. Writeup does not mean reply. Writeup does not mean reply....

Okay, maybe just this once.

In 2000 years of human technological advancement, we actually lengthened the work week by 10 hours. Am I the only one who sees a problem with that?

Well, that depends. I'm sure the ancient Romans had to do a lot more household work themselves, and could thus justify the extra ten hours per week. You know, things like preparing your own food, making your own clothes, and all those other things you can skip past just by taking a trip to Wal-Mart.

 

Do you grow food, make clothing, build homes, or manufacture tools? I didn't think so, and those are the only basic industries needed for a comfortable human existance.

How are you defining "comfortable"? Sure, I may be producing my own food, clothing and shelter, but that's sure not my idea of a "comfortable" lifestyle. I'd be spending every day of my life maintaining my own survival, because if I'm no longer salaried for $40,000 per week, I sure can't afford to pay anyone else to do it.

 

The fact is that we already have enough music, books, film, television, and video games to last forever.

Yeah, I'm sure we're all ready and willing to spend the rest of our lives enjoying the current, finite supply of entertainment available. I don't even like 1960s pop music.

 

You can ride a bicycle, for that matter you may very well work at home, or within walking distance. So the car is going to have to go.

You presume I use a car for doing nothing more than going to work. How am I going to visit my family on the other side of Illinois? How am I going to go shopping? (Oh, that's right, I'm making all my own food and clothing now.) What if my job is too far to bike to in a reasonable amount of time? What if, God forbid, it's the middle of winter?

 

People have built their own dwellings for thousands of years. You will however need to spend a small amount of money on plumbing, and electrical supplies (you can chop down your own wood).

What's the point of electrical supplies, if no one's going to be building me lamps? What's the point of plumbing, if no one's going to be making pipes or toilets? So we're down to wood and dirt, and while that may be your idea of a "comfortable" dwelling, it's sure not mine. I'm not even left with anything more sophisticated than straw for sleeping on.

 

The world is full of unused land. Find some, and use it.

Sure, no problem. All I have to do is find some unused land close enough to my tool-making factory that I can bicycle to it every day, while still being near enough to a timber forest that I can chop down my own logs for a cabin. And there can't be any winters there, either. That leaves me with... let me find an atlas here... the Southeastern United States, and a few parts of California. And they'll all be taken by the time I get there.

 

We are going to scale government spending way back. Most of it is not needed.

Which parts? The part that provides for a police and fire department in case of personal disaster, the part that provides financial assistance to people who can't work, the part that defends the national territory from invasion, or the part that creates and enforces the laws for all the the above?

 

I imagine it would be a lot like the world was 1000 years ago, but with the addition of modern technology.

Yeah, well, you've already eliminated all the possible means of creating or using that modern technology, not to mention the means for maintaining the infrastructure that makes that technology useable. So what it's really like it the world the way it was 1000 years ago, without the means to improve itself.

 

Thank you for reading my communist hippy fantasy rant. You may now return to your regular wage slave life, as I will return to mine

Hey, if you want to live out a fantasy life in the middle of a forest and establishing a commune of farmers and tool-makers, it's already been done. They're called the Amish. And I know for a fact they work a lot longer than eight hours per week to keep those communities going; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they worked a lot longer than forty.