I often daydream about how society would be if we were not forced by society to pigeon hole ourselves into a specialized career for maximizing the profits of capitalists, and sell most of our time for it.

The idea of creating an entire identity for you around your “career” and only specializing in one thing would be ridiculous in another universe. Humans have so much natural potential for breadth, but that is just not compatible with capitalism.

This is evident with how most people develop “hobbies” outside of work, like wood working, gardening, electronics, music, etc. This idea of separating “hobbies” and the thing we do most of our lives (work) is ridiculous.

Here’s how my world could be different if I owned my time and dedicated it to the benefit of my own and my community instead of capitalists:

  • more reading, learning and excusing knowledge with others.
  • learn more handy work, like plumbing and wood working. I love customizing my own home!
  • more gardening
  • participate in the transportation system (picking up shifts to drive a bus for example)
  • become a tour guide for my city
  • cook and bake for my neighbors
  • academic research
  • open source software (and non-software) contributions
  • pick up shifts at a café and make coffee, tea and smoothies for people
  • pick up shifts to clean up public spaces, such as parks or my own neighborhood
  • participate in more than one “professions”. I studied one type of engineering but work in a completely different engineering. This already proves I can do both, so why not do both and others?

Humans do not like the same thing over and over every day. It’s unnatural. But somehow we revolve our whole livelihood around if.

  • metaStatic
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    10 months ago

    my world could be different if I owned my time

    Self ownership is the basis of capitalism and you’re already playing the game, you’re just playing it bad.

    if you’re on hourly I want you to ask yourself if you would pay someone else what you earn at work to do whatever you just did in the last hour.
    if not why not? did you explicitly set aside this time to be unproductive? do you think people doing better than you let themselves slide like that?

    Humans do not like the same thing over and over every day

    Speak for yourself, I love having a routine and getting in the zone. Autonomy and Mastery are worth more to me than money.

    • darq
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      10 months ago

      What a nonsense reply. Describing any rest as “slipping”.

      The number one thing, by FAR, that earns money under capitalism is investment. Not work, not skill, not merit. Just having money to invest and shave off your share of someone else’s work.

      The “people doing better” actually rest far more than your average worker. They just have money, so they get to make more money even while they are “unproductive”.

      • metaStatic
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        710 months ago

        I said slide not slip. and managing your time is the takeaway. can’t slip, or slide, if you are being intentional about your time.

        People who don’t think they have the time to do anything are usually not being intentional. you get home from work and kick back with a cold one and that’s the whole plan, then the next minute you’re back at work again and you don’t know where the weekend went.

        and if you know how to make money under capitalism without working why exactly aren’t you doing that?

        • nicktron
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          910 months ago

          Were you too busy doing a capitalism that you forgot to read the comment they made?

          • metaStatic
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            510 months ago

            The real, unloaded question, should be “what would you do if money was no obstacle”

            Presuming capitalism is the reason we have no time is what’s happening here.
            But I wouldn’t pay anyone to defend capitalism. oh shit beaten by my own logic.

            Who wants to go blow up a pipeline?

        • darq
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          810 months ago

          and if you know how to make money under capitalism without working why exactly aren’t you doing that?

          You cannot be serious.

    • @matcha_addict@lemy.lolOP
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      410 months ago

      I would love to respond but I have no idea what you’re saying. Sorry. Why would I pay someone for doing my job? I would not be doing it if I could just pay someone to do it lol.

      • metaStatic
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        310 months ago

        are you working right now? must be nice to have that much free time. let me guess … Union?

        j/k just having a laugh. (I’m also union)

        I mean when you’re off the clock is your time worth the same to you?
        I don’t mean to say there’s no value in rest but occasionally accounting for your free time is a good idea otherwise you wake up in your 50s and wonder where all that time went.