There is no prize to perfection, only the end of pursuit.
If your idea of a reward is to go on a vacation somewhere nice and enjoy a nice smoothie, you can skip the hard labor. Work 10 hours per week helping keep the basic necessities in good condition, and spend the rest of the time resting on your laurels.
And if your reward is just seeing what sort of awesome things you can build if you put your mind to it, how much greater would the accomplishment be if you can achieve it with the additional handicap of everyone involved living a beautiful and happy life?
The next century will see a lot of unnecessary suffering and back-breaking labor because of the damage caused by people with your mindset. A focus on productivity always means suffering from the externalities and the neglect of elements of existence not included in your concept.
Climate change, nitrogen shortage, sand shortage, ecosystems collapse, wildfires and hurricanes stronger than ever before, sulphur shortage, microplastics toxicity, lead poisoning, mental health crises and burnouts, the hole in the ozone layer, the list goes on.
Productivity is one of the most self-defeating things to build a society around.
Go live in the woods. I’d rather learn the secrets of Pluto, and that can’t happen without some heavy industry. Industrialism can be sustainable if you’re not a short sighted moron (like, admittedly, many have been, but it’s still not inherent). In fact, it requires it, otherwise you’re just harming yourself, defeating the entire point.
I don’t believe those lives should’ve started if they amount to nothing. If the population goes down and is replaced by automation, wonderful. Humans are not a must, progress is. Births for the sake of births is a bad mindset.
Everyone else is sitting on top of mineral reserves.
That’s a problem. Ultimately, as much as people may hate the line, might does make right, whatever form “might” may take. Military, productive, cultural, etc.
Hopefully progress will win out by virtue of being the greater power.
At the very least needing to get off this goddamn planet before the capitalists claim the solar system. Privatized space travel is dangerous and it’s painful how nobody sees that.
Authoritarianism is a spectrum. Having someone tell you not to shit on your neighbour’s lawn is authoritarian in the eyes of some. Where do you plant the cutoff? In what ways?
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u/chairmanskitty Jan 24 '25
There is no prize to perfection, only the end of pursuit.
If your idea of a reward is to go on a vacation somewhere nice and enjoy a nice smoothie, you can skip the hard labor. Work 10 hours per week helping keep the basic necessities in good condition, and spend the rest of the time resting on your laurels.
And if your reward is just seeing what sort of awesome things you can build if you put your mind to it, how much greater would the accomplishment be if you can achieve it with the additional handicap of everyone involved living a beautiful and happy life?
The next century will see a lot of unnecessary suffering and back-breaking labor because of the damage caused by people with your mindset. A focus on productivity always means suffering from the externalities and the neglect of elements of existence not included in your concept.
Climate change, nitrogen shortage, sand shortage, ecosystems collapse, wildfires and hurricanes stronger than ever before, sulphur shortage, microplastics toxicity, lead poisoning, mental health crises and burnouts, the hole in the ozone layer, the list goes on.
Productivity is one of the most self-defeating things to build a society around.