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Over the years since this list was created I
have made a number of attempts to begin a discourse on the difference between
the future of work and the future of employment, and of the implications of an
understanding of this difference for the future of humanity. On each occasion, the conversation has petered
out rather quickly. Arthur Cordell and Ray Harrell have encouraged
me to make another attempt. Perhaps I might begin this time by saying why I
believe this conversation is so important, though I would hope this was
self-evident to those who subscribe to a list called
futurework. The fundamental reason the futurework list
exists is because many people believe there are problems in the world of work
today. These problems are
articulated in a number of different ways.
Common complaints include: .
too many people can’t get the work they want .
too many people are working too hard .
too much work is demeaning, dangerous or just plain
boring .
too many recently created jobs have been insecure and
contingent. .
too much of what needs doing to improve our quality of life just doesn’t
seem to be getting done We have, in fact, produced a list of 13
commonly ascribed ‘problems with the current world of work’ which in the
interests of space I will post in a separate message to this
list. Perhaps because there are so many apparent
problems, and perhaps because each individual problem analysed alone suggests
particular solutions, there are equally many suggested solutions to our current
problems with work. Again, we have
produced a list of five such commonly proposed solutions which I will attach to
my next posting. Taken individually, each of these proposed
solutions seems attractive – and many times over the years on this list someone
or other has suggested that if only enough will and endeavour were applied to
following through on one of these solutions, all the problems would be
fixed. I am convinced that the problems are more
systemic, and more endemic, than any of these individual solutions can
encompass. Not that I don’t believe
these ‘solutions’ have value – in the short term many of them would help
considerably. But in the long term
the only way out of our current dilemmas is to think differently about the
problems we face. Over the past nine years that I have been
thinking and talking about these issues, I have found that if I can’t get people
to the point where they are prepared to think more fundamentally about the way
our economy and our society works currently, and be prepared to consider
alternative ways; then it is a
waste of time to go any further. So how am I doing? How many other people are prepared to think
about: . how jobs are created, and
why . what sorts of work have historically been
organized to be done through the creation of jobs, and why . what kinds of work have historically not been
done through the creation of jobs and why . what is the historical relationship between
the creation of wealth and the creation of jobs . what could the relationship be between the
creation of wealth and the creation of jobs . how might the world be organized so that all
the work which needs doing gets done, and all those who want to do things might
be able to do what they want to do? Charles Brass
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