|
That's better Arthur. Another problem with Harry's
second assumption is that it comes from the bottom up. Do
as little as possible. Efficiency determines that one should have a
balance of tension to relaxation in the doing of work and that under energy
means garbage and that over tension means locking and eventual
breakdown. But if you want to do something you have to start from
above the product and not below it. Trying to do just enough to get
by is the road to laziness and chaos. Coming from above and
relaxing into the product creates a more efficient balance with a guarantee of
the correct amount of energy to do the job. Being conservative about
either end is also wasteful and chaotic. Too much or too little is
destructive. The creation of a temperate balance is the goal in my
mind. In voice teaching we say that voices are built from the top
down and not from the bottom up. Some people use entropy as a
metaphor. The scientists and Bohm experts on the list might explain that
better than I can but it seems the same principle.
REH
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2004 10:54
AM
Subject: RE: [Futurework] FW Basic Income
sites
Bravo Charles.
Harry's theology is that organized work will last a thousand years,
maybe 10 thousand. A belief system.
We
have to begin the transition of society from one of full employment to one of
full engagement (and this would include all sorts of work --including the
arts)
arthur
Harry Pollard said:
People don't want to work. They
want the results of working. Until all of us have everything we want,
there will be a need for production and service - and satiety is a long time
away. Service provision is the hallmark of an advanced economy. We are
a long way from finding the services we would like. There should be a
constant demand for people to work - a demand that is
never
satisfied. The idea of machines taking over requiring us to
sit with folded hands is fantasy - and will be for a thousand or ten
thousand years.
This is a somewhat confused and contradictory
position. On one hand Harry asserts that people don't want to work,
then he suggests that in order to get what we need and want we will need to
work for ten thousand years.
I suggest people do want to work. They
want to make a contribution, to be busy, to feel that they are engaged in
something meaningful and useful.
The problem is that most of what the Industrial Revolution provided
under the name 'work' was meaningless, or dehumanising.
We have come a long way, however, since the invention of the steam
engine (though you might not know it they way much of the discourse happens
today) - and we can now provide people with all the meaning and purpose they
require, and all the goods and services they require.
All we have to do is think a bit laterally, and stop believing that
'the marketplace' (and the institutions which flow from the marketplace)
create wealth and value - and believing that the best people can do is
capture some of this value for themselves by 'working' in the
marketplace.
Now, I know that there is much debate about the meaning and nature of
'the marketplace' on this list (yes I read it all even if I only comment
occasionally). So I must say I have no problem with the notion of
markets as places where prices are cleared - but I certainly do have a
problem with our (mostly implicit) belief that marketplaces are critical to
the wealth and value in the world in the twentyfirst century.
Work is getting something done. A job is getting done what
someone else wants. We could now organise ourselves to get done what
we want, in ways we want - but we find it hard to confront the thinking
errors we have made in the past.
Charles Brass
Chairman
futures
foundation
phone:1300 727328
(International 61 3 9459 0244)
fax: 61
3 9459 0344
PO Box 122
Fairfield 3078
www.futurists.net.au
the mission of the futures foundation
is:
"...to engage all Australians in creating a better
future..."
_______________________________________________
Futurework mailing
list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
|
_______________________________________________
Futurework mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
