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Lumifer comments on On not getting a job as an option - Less Wrong Discussion

36 Post author: diegocaleiro 11 March 2014 02:44AM

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Comment author: Salemicus 11 March 2014 06:14:13PM 8 points [-]

But we are working less and less due to vastly increased productivity, and it's very clear in any graph of hours worked over time. And the effect is even bigger than the statistics show, because of the big shift from non-market to market labour - don't tell me that doing the laundry by hand, or being a subsistence farmer, isn't work, just because it's hard for government statisticians to measure! People today have far more leisure than at any time since the dawn of agriculture.

What is true is that hours worked haven't fallen as much as some people predicted (e.g. Keynes in "Economic Possiblities for our Grandchildren"). The reason for that seems pretty obvious - innovation doesn't just make us better at making the same old things, it also creates new things we want, and people have a pronounced tendency to underestimate the latter.

Comment author: Lumifer 11 March 2014 06:24:10PM *  6 points [-]

People today have far more leisure than at any time since the dawn of agriculture.

This is commonly asserted, but I have my doubts.

Consider, for example, that agriculture is a very seasonal activity (in most places). You have a few high-intensity periods during the year, but the rest of the year is low-intensity and provides enough opportunity for leisure time.

Some arguments can be found here and here.

Comment author: CronoDAS 12 March 2014 01:39:13AM 2 points [-]

I've heard that modern hunter-gatherers do about twenty hours of "work" per week...