There was a thing on the web awhile ago where they asked a bunch of scientists and writers and futurists and so on what they considered to be their “most dangerous” idea. Here are some collected results. It got me to thinking about how the very idea of “a dangerous idea” has probably changed a lot throughout history. Time was you could say something like “The Earth orbits the Sun” and get killed over it. And while I’m definitely glad that we’ve gotten past that type of dogmatic rigidity as a civilization (parts anyhow) it’s also kind of troubling that it is so much harder to come up with a truly “revolutionary” thought these days. I mean, you can take the kind of ironic approach and say that the most dangerous ideas are the ones that various cultures and religions claim to hold most dear, but fail to truly embody (free speech, equality, charity, etc.) but depending on how seriously you take that type of inquiry, you’ll probably end up bored or frustrated or both.
So what’s my most dangerous idea? Well, I can’t claim to have come up with it on my own, but I didn’t see it represented in the collection linked above, so I suppose it’s worth including here. Basically it’s as follows:
It’s well documented that the rich are getting richer, and how you choose to frame this fact will necessarily color your opinion on the matter (”Of course they are… so is everyone!” vs. “Yes but the distribution of wealth seems to be weighted *heavily* in favor of the richest 1% so what’s that about?”). As for myself, I try not to make a moral judgment on the issue, but I’m rather curious as to exactly *why* things are progressing this way, and I think it’s mainly because of the way our economy handles surplus production. Since modern technology has made an individual worker probably hundreds of times more efficient than his counterpart of 100 or even 50 years ago, it stands to reason that work must be “easier” for him, and that the amount of “leisure time” we have now absolutely demolishes what our ancestors were used to.
But is this really the case? When unionization and protest shortened the workday to it’s present 8-ish hours, industrial output and corporate profit continued rising, thanks to increased productivity, so why has the the standard shift not been further reduced, as productivity has continued to increase? (And more importantly, where are the profits created by this increased productivity going?)
Well, the profit part of the equation is pretty easy. Since salaries have not kept pace with the increasing rate of productivity, the profits are “trickling up” to business owners, which is a big part of why the distribution of wealth is so top-heavy. And while it’s not a absolute and total fuck-over, thanks to redistributive methods like the stock market and IRAs and so forth, it’s still pretty much a one way street in terms of cashflow.
So the real question then is why there hasn’t been an adjustment in the 8-hour day, and why (by extension) are so many people dying (not literally) of boredom at work, while still adequately fulfilling the requirements of their position? My theory is that it’s largely a socio-political question, rather than a purely economic one. Throughout history, it has been proven that the more free time people have, the more likely they are to get pissed (in every sense of the word) and cause trouble. The 8-hour day has proven to strike a fairly effective balance between pissing people off through overwork and keeping them occupied enough to prevent what we’ll refer to nicely as “unrest.”
In other words, you are at work right now so that you are implicitly *not* at a bar talking about the war in Iraq, and taxes and the prison system and all the other things that could really benefit from some serious conversation.
Ok, so that’s my “dangerous” idea. It’s largely cribbed from socialism I know, and also from guys like Bertrand Russell, and many more. So you can feel free to respond with a haughty “Well, Duh!” if you like. I promise I won’t mind. =)
(nb: This post was prompted by an article I read about Best Buy’s corporate offices abandoning the mandatory 8-hour day, in favor of what they’re calling a “Results Only Work Environment,” which has actually improved productivity by as much as 35% in some departments. It remains to be seen whether the employees eventually grow so drunk on their newfound freedom that they foment a revolution and turn the electronics retailer into a nationwide hippie commune. Only time will tell.)
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