• hallettj@leminal.space
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        4 months ago

        A big part of the problem is that we don’t measure externalities well. Like teachers and artists produce way more value than they’re paid for. Instead we only reward value that can be directly measured by your boss, and that value is compensated at as low a level as the boss can get away with.

        • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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          4 months ago

          Like teachers and artists produce way more value than they’re paid for.

          They also receive more non-monetary satisfaction from their work. It balances out.

          • 5too@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            It really doesn’t. I’m sure that satisfaction exists, but when your pay doesn’t always let you eat, it’s hard to stay put for the satisfaction.

                • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
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                  4 months ago

                  I understand that once a person has started a career, switching to a totally different career comes at a high price, so I suppose that instead I should ask “Why do you think that a person would choose to become a teacher, if he didn’t expect the satisfaction of teaching to make up for the relatively low pay?” The pay isn’t a secret and teaching generally requires a college education, which implies the opportunity to pick a different major and then start a different career.

                  I knew a woman from a poor background who was the first person in her family to go to college. She chose a major in English and a minor in Women’s Studies. I’m not saying that English majors can never get well-paying jobs, but I come from a “you can pick any career you want - doctor or lawyer” background so I was very surprised by her decision. Why would a person who didn’t have any money pick to study something that isn’t great for earning money? But she wasn’t stupid - she really liked English literature… Maybe she ended up working as a teacher.

      • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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        4 months ago

        Like, y’all, i’m maximally confused.

        How do i even put this …

        What even is a good life according to you? Is it one in which you constantly work and that defines your self-worth?

  • Philharmonic3@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    “There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part! You can’t even passively take part! And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels … upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop! And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!” - Mario Savio

  • Devjavu@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    4 months ago

    But our worth is already not tied to our protuctivity. It’s tied to our perceived importance. Whatever the fuck that means.

  • i_love_FFT@jlai.lu
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    4 months ago

    You can try to change it… Put all your energy into it, until you’re burnt out… and then you can finally find your place in this machine!

  • Dyskolos@lemmy.zip
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    4 months ago

    I produce nothing, I create nothing. I just consume, travel, delve into my hobbies and enjoy life and don’t give a crap about my “value” others might or might not attribute to me.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I refer back to a note I wrote myself during the depths of despair after crawling back out from a total loss and had to rebuild my life.

      “There is no wrong way to live. Just being here, experiencing anything is a cosmic miracle, it’s literally impossible to waste your life.”

  • plyth@feddit.org
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    4 months ago

    Productivity is value creation.

    It is inherent to the economic system. Any change will maintain that we judge people by what they create.

    What the red bird most likely wants is that their actions are valued more. That requires an end to the market manipulations that devalue work. That’s possible but difficult.

    A society that looks beyond value is more difficult. But nothing is stopping the red bird from not caring about their value in society to stop the productivity judgement from being relevant.

    The blue bird is right though, you can do anything within the parameters of this soulcrushing machine. But for most trades the soul will be crushed.

  • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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    4 months ago

    Like, what i don’t get is that i see both people here on this forum, on lemmy, advocating for “communism means workers own the factories they work in” (i.e. workers are solely upheld by their own productivity, example) and “people’s lifes shouldn’t be tied to their productivity” (this comic).

    Please, y’all, make up your mind. Do you define yourself as somebody who inherently works hard and out of that draws their self-esteem, or is your self-worth independent of your productivity?

    • RedGreenBlue@lemmy.zip
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      4 months ago

      I think the people you are refering to wants better wealth distibution. They want a fair share of the value of their work. So that they can live comfortably and work less at the same time.