The less you eat, drink and buy books; the less you go to the theatre, the dance hall, the public house; the less you think, love, theorise, sing, paint, fence, etc., the more you save – the greater becomes your treasure which neither moths nor rust will devour – your capital. The less you are, the less you express your own life, the more you have i.e., the greater is your alienated life, the greater is the store of your estranged being.
— Karl Marx, Human Requirements and Division of Labour Under the Rule of Private Property
How is thinking, theorizing, loving, singing, painting, etc wastes my capital?
It’s time spent not working.
Not a waste of capital though?
Labour is a form of capital.
So let’s take a philosopher who works by thinking and feeling. And this by thinking, feeling and doing other things he’s increasing his labor potential. What am I missing?
…the actual labour? Philosophers aren’t paid to just sit around thinking, it’s only once they put the labour into publishing their thoughts that they get paid (possibly).
Right but the moment of publishing is the last stepin the long, tedious thinking and analysis process. Without it there will be nothing to publish.
Anyways, absolutist statements hold no water, other news at 11.
Welcome to America. Please ignore the collapse and enjoy these breads and circuses.
They’re actively eroding the bread supply and making the circuses harder and harder to access. We know where that leads.
I’m not arguing that America isn’t in dire straits at the moment, but the concept of having to work so hard to live you don’t don’t ever get to enjoy life is ancient and global. It’s a sad state of affairs.
We used to talk about the future in terms of how much better things could get. Now we talk about it in terms of reversion to the mean.
I still talk about how much better things could get. I’m very excited about photovoltaics and new energy storage methods. If we play our cards right, the history books could describe the USA as the last great fossil fuel empire. Maybe, if things go really well: the last global empire. That’d be pretty cool. Unfortunately, to extend the metaphor, we’re still at the table and our cards are pretty weak at the moment, and plenty of other players still have imperial ambitions, so we still gotta keep our heads in the game.
It’s just rough to be living through an important period in history. My head is so in the game, but I never feel like I’m the one the dealer is talking to.
Yes, but the fact that it is happening in a country which contains the most wealth any nation has ever had in recorded history is quite special.
I don’t think it is, really. Every weathiest nation in history got their wealth by taking it from others, from within and without. America is the latest symptomatic patient of a disease that’s been around a long time.
Only if you completely ignore all context and recent history, and the fact that many nations does not have all of the issues which the US has, but has actually figured out some solutions to some of the problems.
Meanwhile the US seems more adamant than ever to make life insufferable for most of its citizens. The point being that the US is indeed very special in its failure to learn from others, despite having more wealth than anybody else.
The “it has always been like this everywhere in the entirety of human history” is a pretty useless and false statement in this context.
That’s not what I said. In the US, like in every “wealthiest nation on earth” to date, there are and have always been those who do not get to share in the wealth, at least not enough that they can afford to not work to death. I don’t know of any time or place in human history where the poorest of the community don’t meet this condition, and in that way the US is not special. It is also not special in succumbing to rising wealth inequality, as the wealthy use their power to circumvent laws, self-deal, and extract wealth from the earth and their fellow humans with increasing efficiency. That shit happens all the time.
The US has a few special circumstances which make it feel different: one, it’s happening now and not in history books, two, it’s larger (in economic hegemony) than any empire in recorded history, and three, the middle class (i.e. people who were not rich but did not have to work literally their whole lives) are currently being demoted to being mandatory-perpetual-labor poor, which for many of them means they are becoming aware of the problem for the first time in their lives.
The fact that this shit has been going on forever doesn’t make it less dire, but it doesn’t mean the US is special in this regard, or that it hasn’t been happening for the whole of US history or human history. It’s just more salient to more Americans now compared to, say, two or three decades ago.
even the ones that earn quite a liviable income are some of the sourest people attitude wise. the only one that enjoys all these hobbies it is the one that can live off(mooch) the family or SO forever and free to do anything else(one that refuses to find a job), other than well off or rich people.
The problem is we’re the wealthiest nation in the history of the world.
This no longer holds up.
I can’t afford bread and the only circus is the 3-ring variety taking place in DC.
If you buy flour, yeast, and water with a tip of salt, you can make some fresh bread.
I get the point and I’m not criticizing it…
But are “gap year”, “vacation”, and “backpacking” not all the exact same category of thing?
Gap year could mean just doing jack shit at home and partying. Vacationing is partying at a destination. Backpacking is vacationing in the wilderness.
More or less, but “vacation” also implies an additional expense beyond just missing work.
Gap year and backpacking, for most speakers of English, also refer to kinds of travel. Other countries have to have multiple words for “missing work” (jesus christ)
When a poor (most people) tells me they took a gap year, I usually assume that means that they got a job to pay for college. When a middle class person (entry level wealthy) tells me that they took a gap year I assume that means that they did fuck all until their parents forced them to get the fuck out of the house.
It’s only when talking to actual wealthy people that I assume the gap year included backpacking or vacation.
Also when somebody says they spent their gap year backpacking, I don’t assume that has anything to do with hiking or camping, but is more about spending a year not bathing and doing drugs with sketchy people in sketchy places.
It’s a gap year that common anywhere?
I took time off before university but I worked the whole time, mostly nights for the extra pay, and saved up a lot while deciding what I wanted to do. Is that what this means?
Not a thing in most of Asia that I know of, but it should be, I could have used a break from the rat race for a bit when I was younger and maybe put some real thought on what I want to do with my life
a gap year, especially common in much of western europe, is a year in between the end of childhood education(say US high school) and the beginning of adult education(say US university) where a young adult is encouraged to find themselves before choosing their exact field of interest or life path.
It is common in many countries.
That is a type of gap year yeah. The stereotypical one is obviously that of which someone goes on holiday for most of a year without any responsibilities but it’s harder to do that when you don’t have the money to support it.
Over here its very common to do your studies but you take an additional full year after the end just for your thesis. During the year people usually work, travel and do the thesis.
it is for college, some people take 1year off from school and then come back, usually changing thier majors, or even going to a different field. you dont want to be graduating with a degree you dont like, since you wont get financial assistance after you already graduated.
if you mean a gap year “from a job, like quitting it” that is abnormal, and usually indicates something deeper going on.
In Australia your gap year is taken after high school, before university. Most people get jobs.
In the UK it’s similar, but they get “jobs” to top up the money mummy and daddy are sending. Most people can only afford to go straight into either university or the workforce.
In the US some people take a gap four years and go to war. It’s the American Vacation.
The locals put on a firework show every night and all day! They really go all out - but they never invite us to come back…
Some are rich enough that they never work again after this gap year. Truly inspiring 💪
In Germany I’ve seen plenty of youngsters taking at least few months to travel after school.
Now A.I. can do it for them, so it’s totally fine
/s
Welcome to the third world (somewhat). Source: Am from the third world.
I don’t think money is an entry barrier for most of those things. It is if you want to make any of those things a full time job.
How are ppl supposed to pay for bikes, skates, vacations, backpacking or instruments to learn? Maybe learning languages is pretty cheap, but that’s about it.
Depends on how you define “poor” though. I’d say if you live paycheck to paycheck to just cover the basic survival-costs with nothing left to save, you’re already fucking poor.
The entry barrier is time.
Poor people must make money all the time so they don’t have time to do those things.
That what op is talking about.
Swim, cycle, skate, play an instrument… These are all things people generally learn to do as a kid and require parents buying the equipment and/or access for you. A lot of poorer people can’t swim because they have no place to learn how, and you can’t do the others in you don’t have equipment.
Why do you reply this to my comment?
Because its not just time. Kids have a lot of time, and sometimes poor adults have a lot of time too when they can’t find a job or they are disabled. The things OP mentioned require money for equipment or access. Can’t learn to swim when nobody around you has a pool and there’s no public pool around. You can’t learn to ride a bike if you don’t have one.
Swim lessons are expensive too.
My town/school district takes the second grade to the YMCA for swim lessons as part of their gym curriculum.
I’d never heard of such a thing until we got the permission slip, but I thought it was pretty damn awesome.
Both my kids are way better swimmers than me.
We also have universal school lunches (and breakfast), and during the summer they give out free lunch to kids at the town pools, every day, no means-testing. And the town pool isn’t that expensive to begin with (and also really nice), but they do have a sliding scale for that as well.
It’s nice you live someplace that demonstrates so much care for those in need. Easy to argue it’s not even the bare minimum but it’s still much, much more than other communities. Do mind sharing the area you live?
As a kid I wanted to go to music school but we couldn’t afford it because my single mother had two jobs and other three children to take care of.
I did free lessons at the community center, borrowed my first instrument and got library books. No one encouraged me to do it, I just did it because music was something I wanted in my life.
Now OK, that was me and I was just a kid with a lot of spare time right? What about adults?
Well, if I graduated while working full-time (and I’m not exactly “Good Will Hunting” level of smart) everyone can do something as trivial as learning basic Spanish if they want.You were fortunate to grow up with such a helpful community center and people willing to donate an instrument to you, and a library you had access to. That’s more than many.
Fair enough
um. gap year. can’t do that. you get enough gap years called unemployment.
I said “most”
I would say some and maybe. some may be able to figure out how to do some of it maybe.
hello, i’ve been traveling for 15 years and invite anyone interested by the implications of this meme to visit travel for information on how accessible the wider world is.
Ah, you’re the “get any remote job” guy. I keep missing in your guides any instructions on where to find those trees that remote jobs grow on.
Just send a firm 🤝 via email
Bro, it’s so easy, just get a small million dollar loan from your father!
No trees, plenty of directories.
I’m lucky enough to also work remotely and travel quite a bit. It is disingenuous to pretend that everyone can do that, especially in the last 2-3 years when AI took over a lot of entry-level remote jobs and many others requiring onsite for various reasons.
congrats! yes, I recommend against anyone pretending everyone can do everything, vague absolutes are rarely helpful.
AI hasn’t had much of an impact on entry-level remote work, especially esl, it’s always good to check.
Looked at the first page (I don’t have a
linkedinindeed account and can only see one page), those jobs are either aimed at US citizens and/or have (other) requirements I don’t meet and/or just flat out scream “scam” at me. If you can do those jobs, good for you - your situation is not the norm.Edit: the other one, silly me.
indeed is only one of an uncountable number of job sites that illustrate the breadth of attainable remote jobs immediately available. you can filter jobs by “no experience required”. I usually suggest ESL to english speakers first because of the outsized demand(6000 students per teacher), more engaging work relative to other entry-level gigs, travel opportunity, and decent pay regardless of experience or qualifications.
nobody has to live abroad, travel is just a very practical way to access immediate or rapid financial independence that i want people to be aware of.
