Been thinking on the concept of work. perhaps can you can share your point of view on that?
-Stacy Tan
We could look at work in many many ways. Cos... we're human we overcomplicate things.
The question is pretty simply... What is work? Is there any meaning behind work? Why do we work?
So I'll tell a story.
The Story of Work on an Isolated Island
There's an isolated island.
Tom appears on the island. Don't ask me why. It's not important in the story.
He's all alone.
He's not really good at building a shelter. But he makes do with a fairly ok one with the branches and leaves and creates a makeshift shelter.
He finds water, so he's ok there.
And somehow he finds chicken on the island and he manages to capture them and breed them. So he now has a small chicken farm where he harvests eggs and gets to eat chicken everyday.
Everyday, he spends a bit of time keeping his shelter in place, cos it's not built very well. And he spends sometime tending to his chickens.
So he survives. Work in this case is simply, survival.
Hanks now appears on the island. Don't ask me why. It's also not important in the story.
Somehow, he's really good at building stuff. He can build a nice house in a couple of months and it will stand for 80 years with minimal maintenance.
So Hanks approaches Tom with a proposal.
Hanks tells Tom that he will build him a house and maintain it, in return, Tom must feed him with chicken for the rest of his life.
Tom thinks this is a good idea. With the new house, he is more comfortable, it is warmer, he feels more secure, he doesn't need to fix his house everyday.
Couple of months later, there are 2 houses on the island. One for Tom, another for Hanks.
Tom now only needs to tend to his chickens for a bit daily.
Hanks just sits around and chills everyday, and every couple of months, he helps Tom fix the house if there is any issue with the house.
Ok, so in this scenario, is Hanks lazy? Cos after he has built the house, he's now chilling.
Hanks has provided a "service" to Tom, his special knowledge and expertise has allowed Tom to free up more free time for the rest of his life, cos now Tom doesn't need to maintain his house .
Hanks has provided lifelong value to Tom.
And Tom is paying Hanks back with food.
This is economics. Specialization of tasks.
Work is still for survival.
Except that Hanks works less, cos of his special skill. BUT Hanks has provided good value to his community as the house he built has improved the lives of everyone. The value he has provided to his community is worth more than just the hours he worked. It's not the labour, it's also the knowledge of how to do it.
Wilson next appears on the island.
He's a doctor.
So he offers a deal to Tom and Hanks.
Build me a house, and feed me with chicken, and I will take care of you when you're sick.
Tom and Hanks both agree.
So couple of months later, now there are 3 houses on the island.
Tom is still tending to his chicken everyday, feeding the other 2 guys.
Hanks is sitting around chilling again, unless he's called upon by the other 2 guys to fix any issue with their homes.
Wilson is chilling as well, unless he's called upon by the other 2 guys when they are sick, then he spends a couple of hours gathering herbs and getting them well again.
Are Hanks and Wilson lazy?
Should they help Tom with the chickens?
They both have special skills they have already both made Tom's life better due to their special knowledge.
Hanks and Wilson have already provided value to society as they have overall improved the lives of everyone even though they do not work as hard as Tom.
They have already "contributed to society".
Somehow, one day, they found Robinson washed up on the shores of the island.
He's heavily injured and after Doc Wilson does what he can to save Robinson's life, Robinson is left bedridden and needs constant support.
Tom, Hanks & Wilson get together and discuss what to do.
They decide that they can't just leave Robinson to die so they all decide that they will have to take care of him.
Tom provides him with chicken, Hanks builds another house for Robinson and Doc Wilson takes care of him when he's sick.
Not only that, everyday, they each spend a couple of hours with Robinson to take care of him, feeding, bathing, changing, etc.
They don't particularly like it, but they decide it's the right thing to do.
So what has happened here? We now move out of purely survival and start talking about morality.
Tom, Hanks & Wilson decided not to just leave Robinson to die, even though Robinson is unable to contribute to society.
Next, Crusoe appears on the island.
Crusoe has little skills.
Tom, Hanks & Wilson, immediately have an idea.
They approach Crusoe and tell him that if he takes care of Robinson, they will take care of all his needs.
Crusoe accepts their offer.
Couple of months later, there are now 5 houses on the island. One for each person.
Tom feeds everyone with chickens.
Hanks is just chilling, unless called upon to fix houses.
Wilson is also chilling, unless called upon when someone is sick.
Robinson is always in bed and doing nothing.
Crusoe takes care of Robinson.
Tom, Hanks & Wilson are happy cos they don't have to take care of Robinson anymore
Crusoe doesn't mind taking care of Robinson as the other 3 guys take care of his survival.
So what has happened here? We have moved out of purely survival, we talked about morality, and now we have outsourced morality. But everyone is happy, cos everyone provides a service, skill, knowledge to society. Service to society isn't just about labour, it's also knowledge and skills.
BUT, the story doesn't end yet.
Another person called Friday appears on the island.
Friday is a jeweler. He finds nice rocks on the island and is able to craft them into nice trinkets.
Friday makes a beautiful unique ring and offers it to Hanks for him to build a nice house for him
Friday also makes another nice pretty ring and offers it to Doc Wilson for his services.
However, Friday makes a smaller ring for Tom, as Friday only wants chicken every alternate day.
Friday doesn't mind fishing to obtain food on the days that no chicken is supplied.
Friday doesn't give Robinson & Crusoe anything.
He knows that Crusoe will take care of Robinson anyway. So he doesn't need to give Crusoe anything.
Here, we start to see change in society. From survival, to morality, and now to wants/luxury.
I'm sure that everyone can see that the jeweler actually does nothing for society in terms of survival. But yet provides a service. He can make someone happier cos they feel special owning a product that is beautiful or unique.
The feelings of the people on the island start to change.
Hanks is happy cos he has everything he wants. His skills are irreplaceable and unique as he can build good houses.
Doc Wilson is happy cos he also has everything he wants. His skills are irreplaceable and unique as he can take care of patients and heal the sick.
Friday is happy cos he also has everything he wants. His skills are unique, but not necessary. He enjoys fishing so he does it every alternate day.
Tom is a bit upset. Cos he doesn't have a nicer ring. He has everything he needs, but not everything he wants. He would like a nicer ring, but his skills are unable to provide something for Friday to give him a nicer ring.
Crusoe is pretty ok, he knows he doesn't provide much value to society except to take care of Robinson. He has what he needs.
Robinson is glad just to be alive.
End story...
So... what do we see here?
How do you relate this to the current society we live in?
What is work? Is there any meaning behind work? Why do we work?
On the small island with little inhabitants, it's easier to see the value of labour, different knowledge, abilities, skills, etc.
Labour is available from everyone, but skills and knowledge isn't. And society has placed a higher value for people who have special unique skills. Even the jeweler has a unique skill even though he doesn't provide a necessary skill for survival.
The very baseline of work is very simply, survival.
If we provide a good enough service to society, in terms of knowledge or special skills, we are able to work less and enjoy more free time, like Doc Wilson, or Hanks.
On the island, there is no concept of money.
In the real world, money is just a proxy for the perceived value of the services provided by whoever.
If a doctor earns enough money in 10 years for him to not work for the rest of his life. That means that society has priced his knowledge and expertise as such.
If the doctor earns enough money in this 10 years, such that him and his children never need to work, then it just means that society has priced his knowledge and expertise as SO critical and valuable that they are willing to pay him as such.
It is society that places value on the things we do.
Society has deemed that the Kardashians provide entertainment value. And society has placed whatever value on entertainment such that they are able to live very luxurious lives.
I'm sure that it's obvious that they don't provide survival value.
In fact, survival value is very very cheap in our real world.
Food is relatively cheap in almost all developed nations if compared to the other jobs/services.
Anyway, if we go back to the questions...
What is work? Is there any meaning behind work? Why do we work?
Well, we work to survive.
BUT, most of us have moved past that. We work to earn money to live better lives.
Some of us have also moved past that, we try to find meaning to our work.
We even try to place meaning in other peoples' work.
We judge people as valuable to society or not valuable to society if they work or don't work.
Heck... people would say Kardashians are working so they are providing a value to society.
As compared to someone like me who is doing nothing. So people would deem me as providing no value to society.
In my case, society has deemed that the service I provided in my 7+ years working was enough for me to survive for the rest of my life. Note... SURVIVE. I'm not particularly rich.
The amount I made in terms of cash, is just a method of storing the value of my past services so that I can use it in future.
For me, I believe that there is no meaning to work.
Work was for survival. Once most humans moved past that, they decided to put "meaning" to it.
A "holier than thou" approach.
Typically, people who to continue to work, by need or by choice, judge early retirees as lazy and not contributing to society. Cos they feel that they continue to "provide a service to society" by working, providing labour or skills.
Whereas actually, the early retiree has ALREADY provided a service to society. And society has remunerated him for the services. He's just spending it slowly.
Humans are complex being... unnecessarily complex, I feel.
But we are what we are.
Putting meaning to things where there might be no meaning.
Imagine a steel cup.
If I show you a steel cup. It has no meaning. It is but a steel cup.
If I tell you that this steel cup was given to me by my late grandmother.
Suddenly it has meaning. Cos of sentimental value, cos of memories.
Imagine that one day my mum lost the cup, but I didn't know about it. My mum bought an exactly similar cup and replaced it. I never knew about it.
When I use the cup, I still think it has value.
Somehow, later on, I find out that my mum lost the cup and replaced it.
I kick up a big fuss saying that it's not the same cup. Suddenly the cup has lost it's meaning.
For all it's purpose, the new cup is indistinguishable from the old cup. But to me, it is different. Cos it's not EXACTLY the same one which my grandmother gave to me.
Now... this is what it is to be human.
It is what it is.
If you feels that this is reasonable behaviour, then so be it. There's no right or wrong.
If you feels that there needs to be meaning in the cup, needs to be meaning in life, needs to be meaning in work. Then so be it.
And if you're able to find meaning to life, or work or whatever. Then that's all fine and dandy.
You are happy with finding meaning to what you do, and that's ok.
BUT, if you're someone like me, who feels that there is no meaning in certain things.
I might feel sentimental about the cup.
But I might not feel that work has any meaning. Or vice versa...
And maybe you're like me, feeling certain things have no meaning. I'd say... then there is no meaning.
Don't need to bang your head against the wall or overthink things. Don't need to keep searching for meaning.
For me, I accept that there is no meaning, and I move on with life and focus on things that I find have meaning.
I have thought about it, whatever "it" may be, and I have concluded that there is no meaning. I don't want to keep staying on the topic. Maybe... maybe in future, I might find a job that has meaning, well... I'll revisit this idea again if it crops up. No point thinking about it at this point in time when there is no new information.
The problem comes when someone who feels that something has meaning... comes along and tries to convince someone that feels it has no meaning.
Like someone who feels that they are actively contributing to society by working, and that they are "holier than thou"... and they try to convince me that I should be contributing to society, else I'm lazy.
Well... you wanna work you work lor. What's that gotta do with me?
Similarly, the problem also comes when someone who feels that the cup has no meaning, and tries to convince someone that the cup which their grandmother gave is just like any other cup.
Hello... my cup, why you care how much I value this particular cup.
Anything can have meaning, anything can have no meaning. It's all up to you.
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