Tuesday 12 April 2011

Circular contribution

It's often said that people need to contribute to society and that's why they should have a paid job. Not having a paid job means you're not contributing to society (unless you're retired). In the extreme, jobs are even created for people to do so that they can contribute by doing them. Some "jobs" are, by being made illegal, shown to be not contributing to society, though. Let's say a mugger. It's work - it takes skill and nerve, and it could be quite good money, but it isn't socially acceptable/constructive. Therefore any job that demands skill and nerve is not necessarily socially acceptable/constructive and there must be some other attribute of the job that makes it so.

I submit that the attribute should be whether what is being done directly helps the sustainable survival and thriving of humanity on this planet.

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