I wrote but didn't send this in February. If Eva or Jay are still out
there, I would still like their comments
Doug Vincent
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Eva - Jay's Society of Sloth does not include "a continuous debate about
decisionmaking." The 95% would get their entertainment, but only that
education and information that wouldn't rock the boat.
Eva wrote:
with short and varied working hours, a lifetime of education and global flow
of entertainment and information, a continuous debate about decisionmaking,
there would be less boredom then now and less provincialism.
Jay - Do you see yourself in the 5% or the 95%? I don't care to be in the
95%, and based on your comments on captain and crew, I don't think you would
either.
Your vision does not allow for the human (esp. male) urge for power. This
is hardwired just as much as the capacity for lying, manipulation, and
self-deception you have talked about. In fact, the latter are just means to
the end of power. Although the power urge evolved to meet needs of survival
and reproduction, and your plan could arguably let people meet those needs
without needing "power," it does not follow that the power urge will go
away.
Currently, economic activity ("business") gives many people a way to
'scratch' their power 'itch.' (One doesn't have to run the US or Microsoft
to be exercising their urge for power.) How would you redirect that urge
from people who are more inclined to power than to play or pray?
At the end of 1998, there were some 133m people employed in the US (about
half the population). On the order of 5% of that group will be in positions
of some authority (7m). You want to cut the workforce by 90%, down to
13.5m. I assume the organization structure will scale down proportionally -
feedback here please. Therefore over six million of the people who were
meeting their power needs through work would no longer be doing so. I fear
the results.
