SQUONK:
>If there have to be slaves, then i am happy to do my share of slaving if that
>is in the social interest. All i ask is to be free from doing any damn thing
>as long as it serves pure economics.
ERIN: I think this is interesting watching you guys debate.
I do feel empathy for people in low quality jobs but also I see how somebody
has to clean the toilets. I think that what you said was interesting
because it during this debate I kept reading about this book I
read in college.
I have no idea if this could actually work--it was written as a
utopian society. I understand everything that works on paper doesn't
necessarily work but I don't think something like this has been tried.
The book is by the famous behaviorist Skinner (operant conditioning guy).
I am not an extreme behaviorist like this guy but this book
"Beyond Free Will and Dignity" I thought was interesting.
One of the things the general public knew about Skinner was he pput
his child in the glass box/crib type thing.
People accused him of being cold but he thought it was the
most humane thing because he gave his child perfect air temp,
humidity, etc.
Behaviorism is all about the environment.
So this book was about create the right environment and
everyone behaves and is happy.
Why I brought this up is because the people had a variety of jobs
from menial things to washing windows to thinks more intellectual
stimulating.
This stuck in my mind because I thought that is what I would like.
I think if all you do is menial work THAT'S when it becomes menial
but when there is a variety of tasks there are no menial tasks.
Teachers get tired of teaching but what if it was interspersed with
tasks like motorcycle maintenance.
I have no idea if this idea is at all practical. It was
a utopian society. But I did think of a possible drawback-- we
would lose all the expertise that a person develops when they devote
themselves to one area. (Einstein cleaning toilets comes to mind)
I think it would be cool if companies did try to implement this
kind of variety in their workers lives, I think they would be
happier, I know I would be.
Erin
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