https://bigthink.com/the-present/work-less/
"In 1930, a year into the Great Depression, John Maynard Keynes sat down to
write about the economic possibilities of his grandchildren.
Despite widespread gloom as the global economic order fell to its knees, the
British economist remained upbeat, saying that the ‘prevailing world depression
… blind[s] us to what is going on under the surface’. In his essay, he
predicted that in 100 years’ time, ie 2030, society would have advanced so far
that we would barely need to work. The main problem confronting countries such
as Britain and the United States would be boredom, and people might need to
ration out work in ‘three-hour shifts or a 15-hour week [to] put off the
problem’. At first glance, Keynes seems to have done a woeful job of predicting
the future. In 1930, the average worker in the US, the UK, Australia and Japan
spent 45 to 48 hours at work. Today, that is still up around 38 hours.
Keynes has a legendary stature as one of the fathers of modern economics –
responsible for much of how we think about monetary and fiscal policy. He is
also famous for his quip at economists who deal only in long-term predictions:
‘In the long run, we are all dead.’ And his 15-hour working week prediction
might have been more on the mark than it first appears."
Via Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
