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The idea that we no longer need labor is preposterous. Where are the machines to take care of children or the sick, or to build and maintain housing?

What kind of science fiction world do you think you live in?

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fullshark 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

The idea that those jobs can only be done by desperate individuals so society needs desperate individuals is your logic here. I am not sure I can even counter it, I lack the imagination to see an alternative.

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mensetmanusman 4 days ago | parent [-]

Helping people is not desperate work. It’s meaningful.

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fullshark 4 days ago | parent [-]

Sure, but one shift as a nurse in a hospital will open your eyes to just how difficult a job that can be, and not one many people would do unless "forced" to.

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skybrian 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I’m not sure what your scare quotes mean, but nurses don’t work for free and traveling nurses in particular make good money.

“Forced labor” originally meant things like slave labor, but some people have it backwards.

I think anyone will agree that being able to walk away is important for negotiations. How much you’re paid has little to do with that. Having alternative job offers or the savings to do without a job for a while is more important.

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fullshark 3 days ago | parent [-]

There's many incentives encouraging people to work in America. Many of them are positive ones (pride, a sense of community, ambition) and many of them are negative (inability to pay rent, health insurance, food otherwise).

A lot of terrible jobs are required in our society to be done by people from negative encouragement. The belief that all jobs can be done purely through positive encouragement I think is potentially naive. Maybe nurse was a bad example but people who work from this negative encouragement are in many ways "forced" to.

For illustration some of the worst farm labor jobs in America are done by illegal immigrants, and it's not obvious legal citizens would do those jobs at any rate that makes economic sense. The economic engine that gets us food in our grocery store runs on their desperation.

	▲	skybrian 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		I broadly agree that the economy works that way, but I’m somewhat doubtful that “running on desperation” is quite the right way to describe it. It seems a bit reductive. Consider joining the military. Most Americans would never consider enlisting. There are people who consider possibly getting shot at or killed to be worth it. Maybe some of them were desperate when they joined, but often not. Similarly, people who decide to immigrate to the US have a variety of motivations. Is hoping for a better life desperate? It depends. Sometimes people regret their choices in life, which means they had choices and the other choice wasn’t obviously worse, in retrospect. More generally, there are a lot of ways that people can get into situations that feel like a trap, and a bad job could be one of them.

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AlecSchueler 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I don't think I've ever met a nurse who felt well compensated for their work, but they continued to do it because they were passionate about providing care to those who needed it.

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jrmg 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

They’re not suggesting no-one has to work. They’re suggesting that no-one has to live without necessities like food, shelter or medical insecurity.

	▲	otabdeveloper4 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		"For free" implies no forced labor or time commitment. So yes, they're suggesting no-one has to work.