Monday, November 23, 2015

Time, Who Has It?

It's a simple matter of arithmetic, really. If one, as a statistically normal adult, were to work the statistical average of 40-45 hours a week, and sleep the statistical average of 7 hours a day, one finds that an average week already has 90 of its 168 hours taken up. This leaves less than half of the week in which one can pursue leisure activities, but even that is a bit of a red herring, because there is housework to do, driving, grocery shopping, and much more. In reality, only about 40 hours of a standard week is one in which a statistically normal adult can pursue enjoyment. This seems rather stunted, and I often wonder, if given the choice, would humanity be willing to give up 50 years of technology and production for, in turn, 20 more hours a week of leisure time? When we live in a post-scarcity economy, have terraformed planets, and conquered aging, what will the balance look like, then? I suppose we will not know, alas, burdened by still living at a time when the mode of production has not diminished. So we work away, tirelessly, as we have for decades, knowing that the future will have it so much better.

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