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bluegatty 2 hours ago

we are very well past post-scarcity.

we definitely choose consumption over free time for the most part.

people generally choose nicer home, starbucks, vacay, neflix over work hours or retirement.

so this is a cultural issue

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tredre3 2 hours ago | parent [-]

We are very well past the point where technology could allow post-scarcity.

Post-scarcity is no longer technological problem, it's a political one. But it's still very much a problem, so no, we are not anywhere near post-scarcity.

I also don't understand the point you're making about people wanting to spend $15 on netflix or $12 on a coffee. Would everybody cutting netflix and lattes allow us to live in that utopia more quickly?

	▲	bluegatty an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, dropping consumption would immediately allow us to work 2-3 days a week. It's far more a cultural problem than political. We starting hitting post-scarcity at the start of the 19th century, towards the end of the industrial revolution [1] We were growing enough food, housing is actually not that expensive, we were 'starting to not need that much more'. This is when we started marketing consumption to the population - it was the only way to grow the economy. We have far, far more than we need for basic satiety. It's not quite so simple though - many innovations that we 'truly want', like medicines and health tech - come out of the economy as a whole and would not be possible were that the only hugely important sector. We work 5 days on 2 days off because that's the very strongly entrenched social contract, it's the 'labour equilibrium'. No amount of tech or AI will change that - unless we collectively agree to change the rules. The social contract is slightly different in different countries, and nobody seems to have figured out how to work on 2-3 days, I believe that we mostly prefer the way it is. Maybe 4 day weeks would be more amenable. But the marginal income from the 4th day ... I think people would prefer to work it rather than not. [1] https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/a-brief-history-of-consum...