The Problem with Living for the Weekend (Food Poisoning for Thought Reprint)

(*Reprinted from Food Poisoning for Thought as part my ongoing process to unify my web presence.*)

Do you like your job? I hope so. But statistically you are unlikely to like your job.

If you are lucky, like me, you do not hate your job and it provides you with a good wage good hours and good benefits.

But so what?

My job is essential to the functioning of modern civilization. Like many boring but essential jobs, my job keeps the wheels of civilization turning. And I know co workers for whom this is their justification for going to work everyday.

But so what?

Let's ask horrible question shall we. What is the value of retaining civilization?

The great advantage of civilization, is it enables massive population growth, and specialization of labor.

The cost of civilization is that it requires massive outlays of resources. but because it is not sustainable it must grow more with each new generation and it did the last.

As a result of the population, and labor specialization. civilizations tend to produce massive technological and social innovation.

But so what?

because of what they require massive consumption of resources and ever increasing growth numbers, the price is
... everything.

And on top of that, if destruction of ecosystem isn't a large enough for you, there is of course the cost to each and everyone of us for our participation in civilization.

Industrial scale total war, hierarchically enforced poverty... and that is before we start examining your work week. The overcrowding of urban centers squeeze more people into one place than a human mind is wired to process. The pace of work and the stress of intangible enemies we can't see or strike with a spear drives 70% of us quietly insane at some point.

We work longer hours with less rest for worse results than our hunter gatherer ancestors and mental illness is our reward from our pointy haired bosses.

But so what?

Isn't that just how the world is? Were making ourselves sick, and in the process we're killing life on earth. But that's just how things are. Right?

7 billion of us toiling at job we mostly don't like so we can medicate with media and chemicals on the weekend?

So what's the alternative? The deck is stacked against us and if we step out of line we risk our livelihoods and security.

But so what?