Anarchism

greed corruption uneducated lazy. if all crimes are legal, there's nothing stopping an easy fix. lawyers run cover by dragging things out for fees. the mad plumber would work for free if he didn't have bills to pay.

Sounds nice, how does it work in reality?

@Five this is fascinating. I’m sure I’m not alone in this: even just the internal bureaucracy and culture within a company suppresses (smothers) people, and, in some cases, deliberately prevents them from doing what they’re best at. I’m sure the theoretical free plumber you mentioned would be seen as a threat to the livelihoods of 50 different hedge fund backed outfits here in Las Vegas (Goettl for example…🖕you Goettl).

And every single one of them would have a YouTube channel.

I work at a tiny 10 person non-profit. I am by far the most computer literate person here by an order of magnitude, given my completely wasted software engineering degree. I offered in my downtime at work to fix a bunch of laptops used by our kids in the after school program that were malfunctioning in some way or another.

I was told to stick to my job description by our Executive Director, and that they'd contact an external IT person to deal with it. I'm an Admin Assistant, which TBH kind of means I wear many hats anyway so my job description is very broad...

So here I am, twiddling my thumbs, posting on Lemmy instead.

Its not only giant corporations. Its infected every modern manager/executive brain. And I want to say, the executive director at my work I consider "one of the good executives". At least by comparison.

(My immediate superior I like... less. She'll do something wrong, I'll try to fix it, and I'll get reprimanded for trying to fix it.)

The problem is that a system like that would benefit a lot of people instead of just the parasitic owner class.

Kinda similar. I work in HVAC-R. There are a ton of times where I'm working on a system where I would love to just spend a few more hours making part of it better and then another few hours streamlining things to make future work on it easier. But we charge $200 per hour so no customer wants me to spend 12 hours making their system perfect; they want me to spend 2 hours and just get it functional. If I didn't have to charge money for my time then not only would every system I touch run like a dream, but they would also be beautiful. As it is people more frequently wind up with duct taped functional travesties and then refuse any follow up work to fix it properly.

I invent utility and design patents, but am on disability and can't afford to patent them open-source. My brain and body won't let me have a regular job, but I could do this all day long if the social infrastructure was there

I'm a big fan of the concept of an universal basic income. Where everyone gets ~1000€ every month from the government. For children, the parents get the money.

And I mean everyone. Every legal resident. Including billionaires.

To finance it I would tax both income and capital gains at ~50%. From the very first € you earn.

The net tax load on most people would not actually change much. But it completely gets rid of situations where if people work more, loose their benefits and end up with less.

1000€ should be just about enough to life a frugal lifestyle. A flat with a partner or flatmate in a small town. Produce to cook a flexitarian diet. A public transport pass and a bicycle. A Samsung Galaxy A17 with an internet plan. And all those other real necessities of life.

If people want luxuries, they will still have to work. Someone still has to produce those consumables after all. But everyone should be able to get all of their basic necessities covered.

I know someone like that who cannot keep a job because of autism and health issues. Luckily she lives in a functioning country and gets state support including money and guidance. She is the regional pet/pony/alpaca carer and her house is always filled with animals from people on holiday or sick animals from people with full time jobs. She also notifies all the local farmers if one of their animals has an issue.

It's crazy how spot on this guy actually is, this wild dude honestly unclogs drains for the love of it: https://youtu.be/95ATNSkGF3Y

I would literally be the jack of all trades

I'd happily do something completely different every couple of weeks

Not very practical with a 3 month notice period IRL

.... And yeah the whole needing to work to not die thing

Sounds a bit naive on paper.

But thinking about it, I want to fact-check wikipedia sources for a living. Also make tools to automate shit. Also I fucking love assembling and fixing furniture so I could do that too.

No need to even pay. As long as I am not homeless or starving to death I would be happy and fulfilled doing those kind of work.

Tho I do think doctors and teachers etc should still make some extra money for the years of expertise before even starting the work.

I obsessively/compulsively update and optimize computers. I see a missing driver or BIOS update not installed? A dusty CPU Fan? A security alert? I fix. I literally just went to bed after running "sudo dnf update -y && Sudo flatpak upgrade -y" on my wife's laptop that she doesn't even use! Thankfully, my work lets me tinker on machines all day, every day, and nobody cares if a side project shows up on the bench every now and then. I would do it for free if I didn't need the money. When I'm not at work, I do IT for family, and I volunteer at the library. I don't even game anymore, I self host and tinker. Hell, I spend more time mucking with Jellyfin than watching media. There are people like that. We exist.

We need UBI (Universal Basic Income). People should have the choice to work, if they want more money or love their job. Not being forced: a choice.

If someone wants to follow a path that is not financial viable - be it art or just a hobby - that should be possible, too.

Life would become better for nearly everyone. Art would get a new golden age, people would no longer fear financial ruin, happiness and personal fulfillment all around.

Also paying people starvation wages or treating them badly would no longer work. Employees would have to be treated well or they would simply leave. Great wages and good conditions more or less guaranteed. People could support a big family and a nice house on a single wage again.

The only persons not happy would be the ultra rich, the exploiter, the CEOs. Because this would only work if everyone pays their due and the 1% no longer hoard the wealth.

I think this could create the best possible future, an utopia - if only our politicians were not bought and paid for. But sadly they are - and wealth only goes towards the rich, while we get poorer every generation.

I hope I live to see the day when the people notice that the rich rigged the game and react accordingly.

Japan sort of has that thing going.

Ningen Kokuhō or Living National Treasures get paid by the government just to keep doing something culturally significant. Like making clay pots or arrows using traditional techniques. Preserving Kabuki or performing arts.

Honestly it's amazing to recognize the significance oby supporting masters of certain crafts. Otherwise some might not find it financially sustainable and cut corners, well this allows them to keep traditions and preserve valuable techniques.

The problem is more definitional than anything else.

The basic proposition is to do valuable work, as others define value, in exchange for whatever you consider equivalent compensation.

If others don't see value in alternative ways of operating, you can help define it for them. Map any activity to either money made, money saved, or time saved, or maintenance avoided/automated and just watch how the tone of those "stick to your job description" conversations change.

As soon as you learn to put what matters to you in terms that matter to others, this problem is a whole lot easier to solve.

This is why a ubi is so essential when society evolves to a post scarcity state.