Abolition of Work (was Re: Extropian Party Platform)

Chris Fedeli (cafedeli@erols.com)
Tue, 12 Oct 1999 02:53:35 -0400

Steve Butts wrote:

>
> -- I'm quite skeptical about the whole "abolishment of work".
> Personally I think a world without work would be pretty boring, I seem
> to get a lot of fulfillment and fun out of working. I also think a good
> deal of work needs some type of consciousness. Something that can
> create, explore possible solutions, and employ creativity to solving
> them. And if you got a group of conscious machines that aren't getting
> paid you got a race of slaves. Abolishment of work is just a warm fuzzy
> utopian idea that will never probably work.

We don't have to abolish work, but in a very wealthy society we should be able to remove most of the penalties associated with not working.

People who enjoy work would always have stimulating projects to devote themselves to, and those of us who feel like partying for a few hundred thousand years should be able to do that at a reasonable standard of living.
And if all that endless leisure gets boring, we can always get some training and go back to work.

Chris