this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
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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 cafΓ© 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.

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[–] [email protected] 152 points 9 months ago (18 children)

Let's not be confused here. Specialization is what allows for free time. If everyone has to farm and hunt, that's all you'd do. Specialization is a good thing for humanity and diverse institutions and industries to arise.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 9 months ago (20 children)

Yes, but if we only have to work on our specializations for 16 hours a week each instead of 40+, we would have a lot more time for other good stuff, whether it's personal development, supporting other specialists, or just hanging out.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

i've worked for 20h/w and 40h/w. i think 30/32 is a good balance

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (3 children)

People are entitled to their preferences. They should also be entitled to overtime after some amount of hours per week that's lower than forty, I think whatever it takes to bring the rate of unemployment to practically zero.

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[–] mountainCalledMonkey 40 points 9 months ago (8 children)

actually, hunter-gatherer communities 'work' significantly less time than we do in our corporate jobs. farming is a different story: here's one study: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190520115646.htm

[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 months ago (3 children)

You can read that study and see that it only represents one instance where hunter gathers were more efficient than farmers in the same region. You cant use that to say to our current system is less efficient. I hate pop science so much its unreal.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

They also have sky high infant mortality rates

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, OPs got the spirit but misses the point. We are being pressured to sell our time at a minimum of 40 hours every week. It's thanks to specialization (and the technology that developed from it) that this quantity of of time is grossly over-allocated. Trade and travel allowed people to create better products in less time, so people were no longer very literally working to live, day-in, day-out. Unfortunately wages are kept low, wealth is kept centralized and culture continues to place value on excess so that we're continually convinced that we "have" to work as many hours as we can find.

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[–] 9point6 58 points 9 months ago (8 children)

I work as a software engineer and I'm also one of these people that just gets a kick out of making things. So I'd probably do some more of that, just not for an employer. Even more contributions to open source would be likely as you've already highlighted.

Would probably build more physical machines/contraptions/electronic doo-dads that I don't have the time or energy to make today. That and I'd probably make more music, or more accurately, finish more music.

Probably grow more vegetables too, but currently that's limited by space anyway.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (2 children)

or more accurately, finish more music.

I felt that one in my bones

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[–] Bye 43 points 9 months ago (7 children)

I would cut cars in half and weld them into the other halves of other cars

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 9 months ago (1 children)

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

Speak for yourself, I like routine and being rewarded for working hard.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Do you really get rewarded for working hard? Every time I've gone above and beyond for my job it becomes and expectation with no increase in pay. There is no reward for us "no skill" jobs that somehow are the very foundation of this god forsaken societal system we uphold.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 9 months ago (5 children)

I run a goth night once every other month.
I visit friends quite often whenever I want to.
I get up and start my day when I feel like it.
I play with code and build web toys.
I'm a freelance IT guy. I could, if I wanted to, earn a lot more than I do, but my time is worth more than money. It is possible to do, even in this world where everyone is told that you need a 'career' and to work for a company, although a lot more work is needed to freeing other careers from the obligation of the grind.
Don't give up hope, unionise, demand respect, ~~buy a guillotine,~~ and keep an eye out for a way to get what you need and to contribute to society or your community without signing your life away.

(Yes, some people will never get the opportunity. And that, frankly, pisses me off no end. But don't lose hope until you're dead.)

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 9 months ago

I like my job. It's not a hobby, but it also ensures I don't burn out in my hobbies, which happened when I initially tried to make a hobby my job.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (6 children)

I'd have more time to become a better artist.

edit: what the fuck was that unwarranted shitty comment.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago (12 children)

I'd rewrite the game engines for Command & Conquer games so that they could be modernized.

It's a perfectly doable task, but not with the amount of free time I have.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

OpenRA is already a thing, you could contribute to that.

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[–] snek 18 points 9 months ago

I would be doing more programming and more open source work. I would also spend more time doing physical activities like sports. I wouldn't mind doing gardening for anyone, I also wouldn't mind automating all their systems. Definetely I'd sleep for one extra hour.

[–] Mudface 16 points 9 months ago (37 children)

Why is there so much communist content on lemmy?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 9 months ago (22 children)

Not every criticism of capitalism is communism.

But also, is it any wonder that a platform built without a profit incentive and centred around the concepts of mutual voluntary interaction rather than hierarchical control would attract a more anti-capitalist userbase?

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think I would travel or wander a lot more. Not in an instagram backpacker kind of way, just in a dawdle from town to town road trippy kind of way.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I'd do what I'm doing now but I'd be helping hospitals and schools instead of companies.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago

I would sleep a lot more, that's for sure.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If I wasnt working a job for money I wouldn't be doing anything that contributed to making food or providing infrastructure. What I did with my time would probably be considered useless by society and that's why I'm not doing it as a job currently.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Produce documentaries, develop a video game

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[–] foggy 12 points 9 months ago

Make art and hike more.

Id play more guitar and more piano, and record more. Id take pictures hiking and take videos and stuff. I'd fully automate the mundane from my life, finish my self hosting projects.

I'd be healthier, overall. By a lot. Mentally and physically.

[–] Zeth0s 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Basic research. I left basic research because research in academia is a lost cause, killed by lack of funding, hyper toxic environment, rat race to the bottom, mafias and corruption.

It is so bad that I feel a much more morally cleaner environment working in finance.

I would go back doing what I used to do, but without the baggage that forced most of us to leave

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

I'd still be a programmer. I'd work on open source projects 100% of the time. It's something I love to do.

Man's got to eat though. I still work in an area that makes the world slightly less shitty though, so it's not all bad.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I would contribute to any activity that would ensure capitalism wouldn't start existing.

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[–] sturlabragason 9 points 9 months ago

I too dream of this same future:

https://sturlabragason.github.io/blog/2023/07/04/Decentralized-Autonomous-Communities.html

Quoting this:

"In DACs, knowledge, creativity, and innovation are communal properties. Whether it’s a new AI algorithm, a more efficient building design, or a breakthrough software update, all are shared freely among the network of DACs. This community-wide open-source approach fuels rapid progress and the spread of beneficial developments."

[–] HipHoboHarold 8 points 9 months ago

I also jump around with this. Like I would definitely read more. But there's a part of me that would love to write books. But also male music. But also paint. Basically I would do something in the realm of art.

I wouldn't mind having a part time job doing something physical. Like I used to work at a warehouse for a medical supplies company. It was probably one of my favorite jobs. I could see myself doing that again. Gives me a reason to get out of the house, be active, and people will always need the supplies. Ironically I lost the job because we got bought out by one of the world's largest corporations so they could make even more money, and they closed us down. So I lost that job because of capitalism.

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