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Comment by noduerme | Hacker News Reader

Funny. I just had this conversation about ennui, probably not an original one, with a colleague who told me she wrote a thesis on ennui in college:

Why did George Jetson go to work every day? Was it just to have a reason get away from his family? Wasn't the goal of that society that no one had to work, and everyone could be creative and leisureful all the time? Did George want to buy a newer robot? Was he cheating on Jane? What's going to happen to everyone when there's a universal basic income and nothing to do but doomscroll... are they really going to become artists?

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> What's going to happen to everyone when there's a universal basic income and nothing to do but doomscroll... are they really going to become artists?

Why not just consume media all the time? That's what most of unemployed people are doing at the moment, they aren't creating art. Besides doomscrolling, there's infinite amount of tv series and video games to consume very cheaply. In a world of abundance, more expensive passive activities, like travel, visiting restaurants etc. will also be available. Hardly anyone has the tenacity to make art for art's sake.

Why the focus on art?

Raising your kids, growing, cooking and preserving healthy food, helping your parents, your neighbors and your community. Taking hike, exercise. Clean your house, prepare it for summer/winter. Maintain it.

All those things take time and energy. I outsource most of it and I would actually prefer to do it myself.

And that just what I can think of from the top of my head.

Tenacity to do it in the long haul, forever, is hard. It's something I deeply respect in people who manage it, and something I struggle with. But at least trying, or knowing you have the capacity to create something, or having the ambition to create something out of love (doesn't have to be art; could be rebuilding a V6, could be planting a garden), seems like a really important part of being human that you just can't get from consuming media. And there's no indication that people will do more of this if they have more free time. There's every indication they'll do less, and consuming media will be their only hobby.

What's the point of a species that just consumes media? I mean, I guess, what's the point for a species like ours of maintaining a huge group of individuals that act like a flock of birds or a school of fish? Assuming they aren't necessary for defense - i.e. as cannon fodder - and they're consuming resources. Evolutionarily speaking, what's the upshot of having a huge class of media consumers who produce nothing?

They are creating art, just mostly not the sort that requires a ton of skill. Someone is making all the meme posts, taking cute cat photos, uploading amateur writing, and so on.

I like the Culture series take on post scarcity societies. Sure, the super AI ship could build and maintain and plan everything, but what’s the point in that if all the humans are bored to tears?

Orson Scott Card had that whole "Ships of Earth" cycle where the ancients built an AI in the sky that could distract people every time they thought of developing certain technologies. So people went around trading camels and building empires but anytime they thought about nuclear power, for instance, they just suddenly lost their train of thought. I guess one way to guarantee a certain degree of personal value in human lives is to create insurmountable obstacles, but then once you know they're insurmountable that sorta takes away the fun.

I remember that book, and thinking that the Mormon ideology was flaring up more on this one.

I like that they have the ability to achieve immortality using a variety of means, but barely anyone avails themselves of that. After hundreds of years of life they’re just done.

After hundreds of years, every single thing you see or hear reminds you of something embarrassing or shameful you once did.

People never required employment not to be bored.

Yes, weekends and holidays are the worst because I just bore myself to death. Let's go to a 7/365 work model instead

In that series we see the fringe of that society. I think only “man of games” show the every day life of the culture ?

What did people without need for work do throughout history?

From times before the concept of employment existed, to aristocrats and wealthy people in the last 2k years?

They dedicated themselves to culture, music, art, philosophy, science, architecture and so on. They wrote books and plays and music, did research, played instruments, sang and danced, painted, played games.

Search any list of the 20 most important scientists in history and count how many of them where money-driven. Very very few.

E.g. https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/the-10-greates...

I don't know many people like me, but I like putting things together. And I sometimes even like boring rote jobs where you do the same thing repeatedly.

In that future where we have UBI, not everyone will want to be an artist. Some will still want to just make things while following instructions. And there will likely be a beneficial place for it, even alongside all the robots.

Yes, I'm an engineer. I build things. And in my spare time, I build things.

If people didn't like it, I don't think Legos would be so popular.

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