Is there a way forward without a universal, unconditional basic income?
Henry Ford was the first to introduce the five day workweek. And people laughed at him at first. Then they followed him.
Those who cannot remember the past is condemned to repeat it. The past teaches us a simple but crucial lesson: Things could be different.
The GDP is blind to everything that makes life worth living. Mental illness, obesity, pollution, crime – in terms of the GDP, the more the better.
Working less provides the bandwidth for other things that are also important to us, like family, community involvement, and recreation.
As the writer Kevin Kelly says, “Productivity is for robots. Humans excel at wasting time, experimenting, playing, creating, and exploring.”
Technology should be used to curb the workweek as far as possible. Productivity and long work hours do not go hand in hand.
The rich are finding it ever more “expensive” to take time off as their hourly rates rise.
Excessive work and pressure are status symbols.
Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
Bullshit jobs: Instead of creating wealth, these jobs mostly just shift it around. An increasing number of people do jobs that we can do just fine without. A recent poll revealed that as many as 37% of British workers think they have a bullshit job.
Which knowledge and skills do we want our children to have in 2030?
The purpose of a shorter workweek is not so we can all sit around doing nothing, but so we can spend more time on the things that genuinely matter to us.