Jobs To Survive

Quora question and my answer.

Imagine a world where no one has to have a job to comfortably survive. What activities would we invent to infuse our lives with meaning and structure?

In a future utopian world, where no one has to have a job to comfortably survive, is ambiguous in the phrase “no one has to have a job” which implies a choice of whether or not jobs exist and one can have one. The word “comfortable” would be measured in whose estimation? According to what criteria?

Clearly some number of humans have to work at jobs in order to make sure the undesirable jobs get done and, more important, to make sure dangerous and risky work like mining be done by the remote control of an experienced operator. Cops have to break up domestic conflicts. People get sick and need surgery. There is critical work that must be done. Spreadsheet estimates place the amount of human time consumed by essential of education, health care, and elder care services to be one third of the time available. The remaining two thirds is for everything else.

Entrepreneurs would still have ideas and want to build businesses to fill time and make money. Does money even need to exist? Maybe all we need to keep track of is human time. Your value to society of one hour of your time is one hour times your value multiplier, based on education, experience and age. People are going to entertain one another. Plays need to be written. Movies will still need to be made. Producers create products for which consumers will pay money.

Life will change with each passing generation. There will always be new fads to enthrall us. We will live in a world of plastic objects printed by 3D printers. We do this today. We will make composite materials many times stronger than steel. The amount of carbon brought to the earth’s surface is immaterial provided, the carbon is sequestered in plastic. Putting carbon into the atmosphere has its side effects. Therefore the future will be in polymers, plastics, composites, and high quality ash from carbon gasification.

If those who live in those utopian days have the free time implicit is the question. What they will the do to fill their allotted time of life with very much what we would do if we had more time and we didn’t have to work for wages to pay the bills.

1. Personal health and happiness
2. Family, friends, and meeting new people
3. Education
4. Producing and consuming works of art
5. Lowering the hassle factor of life
6. Volunteering for community, national, and international public service
7. Making enough money to travel to far away places to make great movies and photographs for internet slide shows.
8. Have a travel blog that has a following and earns lots of income

If money needs to exist then people can borrow enough money to meet minimalist basic needs, education, and medical needs at 0% interest. The loan is paid it back through a lifetime of work. I wrote about this idea in “Newland 2084”. The book elaborates on the premise that people arrange themselves into cooperatives where they aggregate skills, premises, equipment, materials and go into business. One member one vote. Compensate people for time. Divide profits fairly.