Efficiency is an incredibly misleading concept because it only focuses on one isolated thing at a time, as already discussed in Simpler is more efficient. For instance, while an individual machine can become more efficient, people's personal lives certainly haven't as a whole, because all of our main needs are scattered in different activities and containers. You go to one place to exercise, because your job doesn't involve any physical activity, and on top of that it requires significant commuting. Then you spend additional time to socialize, do creative work, etc. All separated.
Unsurprisingly, this means that a lot of core needs are neglected: most people aren't very healthy and are on a downwards trend for most of their life, an increasing number of people are completely isolated from any meaningful social interaction, most people don't do anything after work because they're so tired, etc.
People who defend the current system will point out how tremendously productive and efficient we have become, but in reality, only the System has become more efficient. It is very questionable whether people's access to what they want has become easier, because of what I just pointed out. Moreover, when your life depends on a single source of income which exists within an alienating and bureaucratic environment in which you have no freedom, you are not free. You are dependent on a collective which only sees your productive input, and doesn't care about you as an individual.
I don't know to what extent primitive or medieval lifestyles were “better” than ours, but they are valuable examples for our times because they show certain axes which modern discourses completely ignore. Having a lower level of technological complexity also comes with a lower level of fragility, both social and technological, and a lower level of interdependence, which means that local groups of people could fix their own tools and deal with their own problems, without relying on a massive centralized power, like a state or a company, who have their own interests of control and profits.
Also, when most of your work is related to the land or a form of hunting/gathering, it means that the impact of your work is immediate and self-evident. There is a felt sense of accomplishment from all the work you do, which cannot be said for the bureaucratic work of our times. This is not just good for individuals, it also creates a collective which is more motivationally robust, unlike modern work which is alienating and leads to burnout, which means that people are more likely to drop their job as soon as they find better alternatives, though modern societies are also really good at making people unable to pivot in any meaningful way to another job.
Does that mean we “should” go back to those times? I don't know, since our sense of the past is distorted by our present times. What I know however is that the current landscape of work and people's relationship to it is unsustainable, and that there are a growing number of people who wish to exit the growth-obsessed society and paradigm, for the simple reason that their individual life doesn't become more fulfilling when GDP goes up.
What will replace it then? I know that a large amount of intelligent people before me have tried to predict the trajectory of their own society and have failed, enough so to know that it is a futile endeavor. Instead of trying to predict the future, better find whatever way you can to be better prepared for it. And what is always robust within uncertain times? Relationships, skills, and the ability to direct your time, energy and attention to what you want.
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2024-12-14