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Kickle
Wanderer


Registered: 12/16/06
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I was thinking about this topic a little today. Work, that is.
I furloughed 7 people. It has been a bit over 2 months since this happened. I've stayed in contact with them for the majority of this and I'm finally at a point to bring many of them back.
One of the questions I asked them is, "what did you do with your time?"
Because I always hear "If I just had time I'd do...."
Well these folks not only had time but they had unemployment that in many cases gave them significantly more money than when they were working. Yes, that's correct, more.
So what did these humans do when they have time and extra money? Apparantly not much at all 
One cleaned their apartment a few times over. One gardened a little. One found part time work elsewhere. One said she didn't do anything but battled a few colds... Literally nothing new or profound in any way. I didn't hear anyone tell me that they used the time to go volunteer. Or that they learned a new skill. Or that they created something they had always wanted to. No stories of writing that book, or donating the extra income. Just business as usual and often boredom.
And it made me think, any time I have that thought "if only I didn't have this (insert obstacle or chore here) then I could be doing (insert desire here)" it's usually just a day-dream. When push comes to shove we are already doing what we want/are capable of doing. If not, we'd already be doing something else. And while we may temporarily change gears, it's not something we can sustain because it's not really what drives us. It seems much more likely that this alternative universe we conceive of is imagination at play.
As a large scale question, are things the way we are because of who we are? Or are we the way we are because of the way things are? I think I'm increasingly leaning towards things are the way they are because of who we are. Humans have some unmistakable tendencies across cultures IMO.
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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redgreenvines
irregular verb


Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 37,532
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Re: The 40-hr workweek [Re: Kickle] 1
#26755522 - 06/18/20 08:12 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Kickle said:... Because I always hear "If I just had time I'd do...."
what would you have done if you were locked down?
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DividedQuantum
Outer Head


Registered: 12/06/13
Posts: 9,818
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Re: The 40-hr workweek [Re: Kickle]
#26755587 - 06/18/20 08:38 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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It's a real shame our species is so boring. This is undoubtedly coupled to the fact that our species is so generally stupid. I'm not working right now and my days are full. Work always gets in the way of my personal productivity, not the opposite. "Who we are" is nothing special.
-------------------- Vi Veri Universum Vivus Vici
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laughingdog
Stranger

Registered: 03/14/04
Posts: 4,828
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Re: The 40-hr workweek [Re: Kickle] 1
#26755763 - 06/18/20 09:45 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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This is why truly creative people, aren't given jobs, at places like the Princeton institute for advanced study. They produce anyway. They can't help themselves. And why movie directors who are already rich beyond imagination and don't need to work, continue to produce great movies.
But after a day of construction work, its go home, crack open a beer & watch the tube.
And Jeff Bezos, & his like, are addicted , like politicians, to grabbing more wealth & power.
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Kickle
Wanderer


Registered: 12/16/06
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Quote:
redgreenvines said:
Quote:
Kickle said:... Because I always hear "If I just had time I'd do...."
what would you have done if you were locked down?
Posted here more 
Probably true even if a bit tongue in cheek. But when online learning tools like Coursera and Pluralsight offered free courses I took advantage even though I didn't have much time to dedicate. IMO it's a great way to broaden certain knowledge bases that I have.
I also live in an area with an abundance of open space. You don't have to go to a national park to see some of the most amazing things around here. So I would as our state tourism board says, "Get Lost"
These are not earth shattering and that's the essence of my point. We do what we do.
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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redgreenvines
irregular verb


Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 37,532
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Re: The 40-hr workweek [Re: Kickle]
#26756435 - 06/19/20 06:43 AM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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I went into a lower activity mode, a few more books than usual, a few less paintings than usual, less photography than usual, less renovation, more exercise and meditation and drugs, continued experimentation with diet (wife has allergies to most seafood, all nuts and legumes, and all soy and sunflower products).
I have enjoyed the quieter times, it is all spinning again now, and I don't feel ready for it. masks and purel until vaccine and no travel.
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Kickle
Wanderer


Registered: 12/16/06
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Last seen: 1 hour, 6 minutes
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I asked a young man who works out compulsively (2-3 hours/day) why he doesn't pursue a career as a personal trainer. He told me that it needs to stay as a hobby for him. That mentality is another thing I wonder about. We often enjoy our hobbies because they are hobbies and dislike working because it's our full time thing.
Maybe some people would be better off with multiple part time jobs in their areas of interest that can all be viewed as "hobbies" and others would be better off pouring the majority of their time into their obsessive passion. There is probably a difference in personality here and no one size will fit all.
I do think that as our attention spans start to fracture more and more with technology and the pace of media, that the job market is going to match that. Either with more part time gigs or with roles that are varied and multifaceted enough to keep this increasingly common mentality engaged.
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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ninja cat 09
A paranoid android



Registered: 10/11/09
Posts: 4,170
Loc: Mexico
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Re: The 40-hr workweek [Re: Kickle]
#26779557 - 06/24/20 02:31 PM (3 years, 7 months ago) |
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I think what we view as possible might play a role too. I've always wanted to start my own business but I never did until I saw a friend who works full time have a couple businesses running. Simple stuff like reselling shoes and giving IT courses, but I always thought I needed to do something drastic like quit my job and go "start a business" whatever that meant. But now I'm gonna give selling kratom online a try, with my source I can undercut the competition and still gross 100% profit, maybe 80% with fancy packaging and basic online marketing. The only problem is that shipping from Indonesia takes fucking forever, especially with covid fucking up supply chains.
I just never thought that starting my business would only really take some time and about 60% of one month's income.
The same thing happened with exercise. I was a fat fuck, and one day I realized I didn't have to be, so I changed my diet and took up exercising. But even then I didn't get beefy because I didn't make the sacrifices that requires.
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CountHTML
Stranger


Registered: 06/24/18
Posts: 557
Loc: Maine
Last seen: 2 years, 2 months
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Some of this comes down to that old saying that if you know what you truly want to do with your life, money for it’s own sake won’t necessarily matter too much; but if you don’t know who you are or what you want, you prioritize money/wealth.
We do have the opportunity to really let creatives shine in ways they may not have been able to before stuck behind a cash register that politicians emphatically told them they were lucky to attend to.
Having machines to do such menial work is truly remarkable and would be groundbreaking if human beings were not so stupid, selfish, rigid, etc. can we re evaluate our economic systems? Probably not, absent pressure from nature. The virus will reform a lot of things. Humans don’t innovate as much as adapt, out of necessity. Strange to see space ex ascending from a planet riddled with unrest and such uncertainty.
We are at once tragic and triumphant. We get far enough to view brighter worlds and possibilities then, we screw it up.
At this moment I do feel palpably that we’re on a collision course with history in ways that few realize. It’s certainly triumphant what we’ve done but tragedy is coming around to collect its dues.
Something is coming. But I just don’t think any of us know what that is.
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