Comment by aethertap | Hacker News Reader

Comment by aethertap | Hacker News Reader

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I probably have an unpopular view on this, but this isn't the point for me. I don't think people are evil for not working. In fact, if I could manage it, I'd skip it myself. Working is hard work, and I'd prefer to do less of it. The problem I have is that, in order to have productive output to give away, somebody has to work to produce it. If that somebody is me, and I'm producing enough for myself and another person+, then that means I have to work that much more to fund it. It chafes me to realize that I'm missing time with my family and friends in order to work for output that I don't even need.

I'm not an absolutist about it, and I'm happy to help people who need the help. However, I think it's reasonable to expect people who are able to pull their own weight.

+ just for the sake of simplicity, hopefully in a real system the fraction I'm supporting is less than one

Edit: Formatting

I get your point but AFAIK there actually are many people annoyed by the mere idea that some people wouldn't work and would just enjoy their free time while they work, but as for me if I were producing (voluntarily and without working too hard preferably) a lot more productive output than I need myself I would absolutely not mind if the rest was distributed among other people and I would not care whether they work or not. I would actually be more happy to know that the people my work feeds just attend a university, do art or just have fun rather tan that they spend their lives on a chair in a government-funded office doing some useless paperwork to justify getting what they get.

As far as I understand modern production technologies may need rather humble number of humans to produce amounts of goods enough for much much much more people so the situation when one man work yields enough to feed a thousand is not a fantasy. I actually doubt many people that actually do useful productive work do just the amount to feed themselves even if they are paid just the amount.

And there also is a huge number of obstacles that can prevent people from doing what they are good at or anything useful at all. In many countries and in many areas people still have to compete to get a job even if they are willing to work. A coder can be denied a job for not smiling enough, being bad at solving puzzles or having a degree less fancy than another applicant has. Will to do a job and will (and capability) to compete are very different things.

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