Why do we have to work?

Question

Think about it. There have been thousands of generations before us slaving away to make the next generation better than the one before. It seems that with all that expended effort, everyone by now should have a house and enough food to last a lifetime, even considering the boom in population.

We work because we don't make things to last and destroy what was built in the past.

Work should really be like play, an option you elect to better yourself and others. What do you think?

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Hey, I get the whole "it is the system" idea. I have worked full-time for 20 years.

My point is that much of why we work is because we destroy though what was already built for us. It is destroyed by war, neglect or because we want something new.

Answer 1

Permaculture Answer: Hey bud. You are a Permaculturist at heart. Look up Permaculture see Byderule's Answers top dude in Environment Answers. Permaculture explains exactly what you are asking.

Why would mankind keep making the same mistakes over and over again? Why not make your own, your children's and grandchildren's lives so much easier than yours is now?

Why not put in only a few weeks work and benefit from them for the rest of your life? Why not plant your pension in the real world now, today, so that you are providing value able habitats, sequestering carbon, living a lower impact lifestyle.

Why not make everything easier, cheaper, healthier with minimum effort? So the work you do do pays you back, year in year out, increases in yields, beauty and benefits for mankind and his environment.

Why not make sense of the work (or now it is Permaculture play time) with ethics of Earth Care, People Care and Fair Shares.

Look at Permaculture. It is your answer.

Answer 2

I think that we all as humans have a responsibility for not only future generations, but to BRING the present to the future.

No matter how hard we try, we'd all still be doing some type of "work" and the only absence of work would be some type of a timeless place. Maybe the experience of death is supposed to be like a permanent retirement plan?

And also, what you said about everyone should have a house and enough food to last a lifetime. Think about the homeless, the starving 3rd world countries. If we had more than enough homes and food to last a lifetime, we wouldn't have those problems if you ask me.

And for your point that we destroy what we have made just to make it better. Would we ever really HAVE the better thing if it weren't for us having created the obsolete material to begin with? What I'm saying really is what we do in the present, in my opinion, will drastically alter the future. Its just like any other responsibility I guess.

Answer 3

We have to work to make money, kill time, do something fun and rewarding, challenge our selfs, learn new skill we can use to our advantage, and so on.

Work can be play if you like the work that you do. There are people who don't work because they like to party everyday, stay inside all day with gizmo's and gadgets, or have already got a self sustaining life with a paid off home, large bank account, garden and farm, solar power, paid off car, no debts, car that runs off energy from your solar power, or kids to take care of them.

If you take away all the improvments men and women made because of the work system in the last 1000 years. Work would be a lot different and harder today. And i'm sure your class, wealth, and age would affect your working status.
For example a youngster and old timer should have more play time then someone in their best shape both body and mind to be able to work. Since it is part of a big comlicated system. for example why do we need, want, or have to spend money? How long can you live without money?

Answer 4

Most people work because they need to eat, and would not be able to otherwise.

The reason we are not all able to treat work like play, that is engage in the kind of work we each find rewarding and engage in it both for personal fulfillment and for the benefit if society as a whole, is precisely because of "the system." Since the rise of capitalism as the predominant mode of social organization, workers perform labor for capital in exchange for money that they then use to buy the necessities of life, They produce the things that produce the most profit for capital in the ways that produce the most profit for capital.

Had items been produced for the common good and the surplus value used to produce more for the common good, we wouldn't have to work like we do now.

I believe that we can build a society where people work for the common good, and engage in work as a means of improving society as opposed to working because they have no other option.

Answer 5

not everyone has to work. people don't have to work if they have enough money. some people work for satisfaction but most people work for money. the reason that most people have to work generation after generation is because they could not built up wealth, they could only survive. if you can built up wealth, lets say pay off you million dollar house, have another 5 million cash, you pass this to your child, he/she is not an idiot, knows how to invest the money, and live a life within reason, does he/she has to work? no, it becomes an option. this can pass on generation after generation until comes an idiot blow it all, then they have to work, start all over again.

In an ideal world, we have enough resources that people only work for pleasure. that is a dream, not realistic for now, and it won't be happen in a very very long time.

Answer 6

no. thats how this system works and thats how the system always has to work. things need to get done and people need to do them, for thier work they get money, which they use to buy goods to support themselves and other businesses and therefore other working people. that's capitalism, that's business, that's the system, it won't change, and it shouldn't.

i see your point about other generations "slaving away", yes, many people worked long hours and did good hard honest work to make their children's life better, but not so they could just sit around, so they could get an education and a good job and a secure working lifestyle for their family, not a free ride, so they could contribute to society. that's the american dream, but you know what, this country is richer and a lot of the manual labor and manufacturing jobs have moved overseas or are mainly employed by immigrants, but people still have to work long hours just to get by, that is the problem of the poor and middle class in this country, they need to work just to survive.

Answer 7

I think that nowadays our generation is much more rich than the past. I suppose that If we can live without work (any handwork or worse job made with hand) We can live only doing service jobs. But we need to have a lot of different things: vehicles, fashion cloths, jacuzzi, a lot of girls, CDs, iPod last generation...We become to economy and we work not for those that we need but for all that we see.

Answer 8

I understand what you are saying...You are not saying that we shouldn't be working but it seems much of our work is unfulfiling and doesn't lead to making things better...only maintaining a certain low standard...

I think people in the US, in general, work because they have to: health insurance, fear of not supplying for their families, only the maintain the status quo. I see a utopian society, where people work to actually go after a dream where they have what they want and their work will only make things better - improving on what we have, thus making themselves happy while working...of course we will have our slackers as all generations have who only want to ride the coat tails of others.

Answer 9

We have to work not for ourselves but for the Government that runs the country. A Government that refuses to lose money from their lined pockets and like to see people bow to them. So, we are now like robots, all work, we get sick, no health care because the insurance companies have power over government and now us. We are a unhealthy nation because we are forced to work to survive in a money hungry nation and not able to take care of what really matters, ourselves. Welcome to the United States. You want work to be like play? Go to a socialist government ran country.

Answer 10

Because people just can't get enough of what they need for a secure tomorrow,..basically not for himself, but for those he loves... (*sigh*)

You know what?
If I could turn back time, I'd tell Adam and Eve NOT TO EAT THAT APPLE! (could have saved us from all this work)