this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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Antiwork

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Date Created: June 21, 2023

This community supports labor, with an aspiration for it to cease to be required to live our lives. Members of this community want to end work, are curious about ending work, want to get the most out of a work-free life, want more information on anti-work ideas and/or want personal help with their own jobs/work-related struggles.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

It's difficult to find motivation to work when employers devalue experienced workers by only allowing them "entry level" and people who are wanting experience and should be considered for "entry level" in the industry are blocked because they need experience for "entry level"

I did 2 years vocational electrical/electronics, worked in CCTV, broadcasting, circuit card repair, satellite systems, telephone systems, CATV, comp hardware/software, networking, alarm systems, metering systems, construction, utility locating, and general contracting, but since I don't have any active certifications besides A+ 1101, I work at a restaurant

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you're in the US, civil service is hiring a shit load of external employees. Especially people with electrical and computer science backgrounds. They count experience and work history equivalent to education.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Tried that. Never got a second interview after I told them I have disabilities. Apparently having spinal injuries means you won't do good in the IT world even though I switched to IT because of my spine

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago (1 children)

To clarify though, no, I don't want to work and I still don't understand why there's this idea that we should. All this automation and AI progress has people fearing for their jobs, but fuck that, they can have the jobs. We need to go the other direction and build a safety net for people who lose them, not cling to menial labor.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Eh. Society stops functioning when not working is a viable path. No one wants to work. The people training the AI, designing the machines that can perform physical actions, the people building and maintaining the assembly, the people working the jobs that can't be performed by AI, etc. They will not have motivation to work if they have the option to not do so and live comfortably.

People act like it's AI is threatening to remove the need for people to work. That is not anything even remotely feasible in any imaginable 50 year future.

Instead, it threatens to remove some jobs, while humanity has ample capacity for gainful employment elsewhere. So many industries are under staffed.

Ex: Maybe warehouse workers get largely replaced by drones, but the caretaking support industry could use a huge influx of able bodied workers. Etc etc.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Also why would anyone want to work? Work is a necessity, not a goal in itself.

[–] Revan343 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I like to work. I enjoy building things; if we lived in a post-scarcity Star Trek world, I would still be in construction.

The problem I have is that we don't live in that world, and most companies don't want to pay me enough to live comfortably, so when I'm applying for jobs, I have to pass over most of them

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I do too. However work is still not the goal, the excitement that I find from parts of it is the goal. And without compensation I would not work for the man but myself.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Stupid fucking "protestant work ethic" states that work will set you free or some shit. I've met the types and they are just sO haPpY to WoRK it's nauseous.

And because the way projection works, if you believe in something, surely others do and if they don't theyre degenerate.

[–] LillyPip 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

work will set you free

I think I’ve heard that somewhere before…

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Capitalists gonna capitalize...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

WHY HELLO THERE.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

The 1905 one is just so close to self realization.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago

I mean, they’re right. I don’t want to work, I just have to in order to earn the money to participate in society. Would I rather do whatever the fuck I wanted? Of course. Wouldn’t everyone? But we still work our asses off for the plutocrats.

[–] Albbi 7 points 2 years ago

2022 - only 1 in 5 executive leaders agree with that statement. Seems to go against the trend to me.

[–] LillyPip 6 points 2 years ago

People have been complaining about ‘kids these days’ since society began.

Socrates thought books would be society’s downfall because the new generation would rely on them instead of memorising things, making their brains lazy. He also said:

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

Every single generation in recorded history has complained the next is lazy and dooming society. It’s always been narrow-minded pearl-clutching.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Just this morning I foolishly went to LinkedIn and saw a post by a former colleague.

Nobody wants to work anymore.

No. Nobody wants to work for YOU.

I feel this sums things up nicely

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

No one ever wanted to work because it's bullshit labor that only benefits you. That's why you have to pay for it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Is this from an article? I'd love to read it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Hi, it's from a tweet by a university researcher: https://nitter.net/paulisci/status/1549527748950892544

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Interestingly enough, vinotempo's twitter link also contains an image with source citations for all of the quotes.

[–] LillyPip 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

If you search for the phrase ‘nobody wants to work’ or ‘no one wants to work’ on books.google.com you’ll find loads of examples. I narrowed my search to 1800-1900 and found many articles and books with that phrase; interestingly, here’s one basically advocating for anti-work in 1885:

Q: I am now talking about the economic law and not the divine law. What is the use of working if we can get all the houses we want to live in, and all the clothes we want to wear, and all that we want to eat without working? Nobody wants to work, I suppose, for the sake of working. Why not engage in intellectual pursuits and stop working so hard? A: Some are doing that. You are, as well as many others, and you probably work a great deal longer hours than ever you worked upon a farm.

Most are not like that, but the standard complaint (and a caveat: I haven’t read the whole text). I just found this one fascinating. It’s an intriguing search, anyway.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Is there a philosophy that explains how can we survive without working?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Not really. Resources are limited. Work is required to convert raw resources into things that can be consumed. Even if you lived by yourself (on land that would need to be purchased), you'd have to work, likely even more than you do now, but you'd get full value of your work. And you'd still likely not be 100% sustainable and require some imports. So you'd still need to trade, barter, or sell stuff.

Edit: that being said, I do believe socialism, or at the very least socialistic capitalism is better than what we have now (granted there's some socialistic programs in place, but not nearly enough or setup properly). The capitalism being practiced right now is much more cut throat than even in the 70s or 80s (when we also taxed the rich much more and surprisingly the economy did wonderfully and didn't collapse as wealthy people want to suggest). The value of work is being siphoned off and given to the wealthy. They're taking money others earned and doing very little in return. The stock market is the most toxic thing to our economy.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago

Delusional cope ridden final take. The stock market has increased the wealth access barrier for the lower classes more than any institution ever created. Changing investment hands from the regular tycoons and magnates to just your local butcher can hold dividend producing stocks has elevated so many people from poverty to middle class. Your issue is with wealth hording, so call it as it is.

[–] Mongostein 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I don’t think the idea is that no one should work, but that no one should need to work.

I picture a scenario where if you can’t work or you’re ok just getting by by lazing around all day that’s fine, but you only get enough for a home and some food. If you want more you gotta do something. This isn’t me though.

Then if you’re a person who loves to work you can make all the money and get shit done and buy all the fancy stuff and live your life the way the want. That’s not me either.

I’m somewhere in the middle. It’s not that I don’t want to work. I just want to work on something fulfilling, and having a boss sucks. I want to be able to work when I want and have time to get things done in my personal life. My days off are always working on some kind of personal project anyway so I’m not lazy, I just want my life to be mine.

It’s about the freedom to choose. With all the advances in automation we should be able to have all these options available but the rich just hoard the money.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I'd love to see the actual sources for these. Curious about the different industries and areas where they were published. Thanks for sharing!

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