Screw a 40 hour work week

Open discussion about any topic, as long as you abide by the rules of course!
Jackal
Posts: 3635
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:00 am

Screw a 40 hour work week

Post by Jackal »

Ok, so I'm smack dab in the middle of exams this week and have therefore been doing way more reading than usual. Specifically, I've been reading a lot of ethnographies for a visual anthropology class I'm taking. On to my point.
The socially accepted norm of work hours in industrialized society is around 40 hours per week. Hunter gatherers however get all the food they need from working merely 20 hours a week. I think it's funny that most people would look at their way of life as being primitive and brutish even though it's more efficient than our own (at least in terms of subsistence).
So would you ever give up your 9-5 cubicle job to go pick nuts in
Africa?
User avatar
Foo
Posts: 13840
Joined: Thu Aug 03, 2000 7:00 am
Location: New Zealand

Post by Foo »

So what you're saying is people work for the single purpose of obtaining food?
"Maybe you have some bird ideas. Maybe that’s the best you can do."
― Terry A. Davis
Jackal
Posts: 3635
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:00 am

Post by Jackal »

No. There's other work that needs to be done. The fact remains however that when all's said and done these people work around 20 hours a week.
bork[e]
Posts: 4357
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:00 am

Post by bork[e] »

Stop being an ass, you know damn well that's not what he's saying.

I always thought something like that would be cool, and I think you're even then one that made me relize what I was saying a few months ago when I made a thread about college and all. But no, I would rather get up, go to school, go to work, go home sleep repeat until I die to be honest. :)
User avatar
Foo
Posts: 13840
Joined: Thu Aug 03, 2000 7:00 am
Location: New Zealand

Post by Foo »

I see.

But without the need to pare things down to such a simple way of looking at things, you can easily work a 20 hour week in western society, and earn sufficient for a better quality of life than hunter-gatherers.
"Maybe you have some bird ideas. Maybe that’s the best you can do."
― Terry A. Davis
User avatar
Foo
Posts: 13840
Joined: Thu Aug 03, 2000 7:00 am
Location: New Zealand

Post by Foo »

bork[e] wrote:Stop being an ass, you know damn well that's not what he's saying.
I disagree with the points he's implying and am putting my point across with literal retorts and by testing the assumptions made.

If you don't understand it, the suggested course of action is to fuck off, twat.
"Maybe you have some bird ideas. Maybe that’s the best you can do."
― Terry A. Davis
bork[e]
Posts: 4357
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:00 am

Post by bork[e] »

Foo wrote:
bork[e] wrote:Stop being an ass, you know damn well that's not what he's saying.
I disagree with the points he's implying and am putting my point across with literal retorts and by testing the assumptions made.

If you don't understand it, the suggested course of action is to fuck off, twat.

Im afraid you are the one that doesn't understand...twat.
mik0rs
Posts: 2650
Joined: Wed May 03, 2000 7:00 am

Post by mik0rs »

Christ bork, all you ever post is crap. Total crap.
[img]http://www.zen85869.zen.co.uk/img/mik0rsSig.jpg[/img]
redfella
Posts: 441
Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 7:00 am

Post by redfella »

Say perhaps that you actually enjoyed your job, and wanted to work 40+ hours a week... then what?
black & white blanket logic
bork[e]
Posts: 4357
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:00 am

Post by bork[e] »

mik0rs wrote:Christ bork, all you ever post is crap. Total crap.
I'm sorry, I'll try and make your reading experience a little better ok.
mik0rs
Posts: 2650
Joined: Wed May 03, 2000 7:00 am

Post by mik0rs »

You'll stop posting? I can see no other way.
[img]http://www.zen85869.zen.co.uk/img/mik0rsSig.jpg[/img]
bork[e]
Posts: 4357
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:00 am

Post by bork[e] »

mik0rs wrote:You'll stop posting? I can see no other way.

Or you'll stop looking for something to bitch about, grow up and get over one person posting on a fucking forum. :dork:
User avatar
Foo
Posts: 13840
Joined: Thu Aug 03, 2000 7:00 am
Location: New Zealand

Post by Foo »

bork[e] wrote:
mik0rs wrote:You'll stop posting? I can see no other way.

Or you'll stop looking for something to bitch about, grow up and get over one person posting on a fucking forum. :dork:
YOU MAY HAVE JUST HAD AN EPIPHANY.
"Maybe you have some bird ideas. Maybe that’s the best you can do."
― Terry A. Davis
bitWISE
Posts: 10704
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 1999 8:00 am

Post by bitWISE »

Part of me would love to just go take it easy doing fuckall. But the other part of me is a materialistic son of a bitch and that part is stronger.
Jackal
Posts: 3635
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:00 am

Post by Jackal »

redfella wrote:Say perhaps that you actually enjoyed your job, and wanted to work 40+ hours a week... then what?
Then I would say good for you.
Jackal
Posts: 3635
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:00 am

Post by Jackal »

bitWISE wrote:Part of me would love to just go take it easy doing fuckall. But the other part of me is a materialistic son of a bitch and that part is stronger.
I think that's what would make most people, including me, think twice about it. We're all so tied to the benefits of western civilization that we'd definately go into shock if everything was taken away from us. That's what makes me think twice about doing field work, I'm not sure if I could handle a tribal lifestyle for very long.
meh, we'll see what happens though. I have a few avenues to explore.
Geebs
Posts: 3849
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 4:56 pm

Post by Geebs »

Fuck, at least you have all your own teeth and a minimum of disfiguring skin conditions.
Jackal
Posts: 3635
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:00 am

Post by Jackal »

pfffft, teeth.
+JuggerNaut+
Posts: 22175
Joined: Sun Oct 14, 2001 7:00 am

Post by +JuggerNaut+ »

mik0rs wrote:Christ bork, all you ever post is crap. Total crap.
eepberries
Posts: 1975
Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2005 10:14 pm

Post by eepberries »

No thanks. I'd rather not live in a place where you die from the simplest of shit. I also enjoy being around people who at least know how to read.
Jackal
Posts: 3635
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 7:00 am

Post by Jackal »

eepberries wrote:No thanks. I'd rather not live in a place where you die from the simplest of shit. I also enjoy being around people who at least know how to read.
Why do you need to know how to read when there's no books?
Plus, I'd say people in society get killed far more often by "simple shit" than hunter/gatherer people.
User avatar
Scourge
Posts: 15559
Joined: Mon Mar 25, 2002 8:00 am

Post by Scourge »

I like my stuff. I'm not gonna move into the wild just to get out of working a bit.
Dr.Gibbs
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 1999 8:00 am

Post by Dr.Gibbs »

I'd work 80 hours a week doing what I love, so no, I wouldn't pick nuts.
Work only sucks if you've picked the wrong job.
Freakaloin
Posts: 10620
Joined: Tue May 07, 2002 7:00 am

Post by Freakaloin »

lol...work is for chumps...
a defining attribute of a government is that it has a monopoly on the legitimate exercise of violence...
R00k
Posts: 15188
Joined: Mon Dec 18, 2000 8:00 am

Post by R00k »

Like your wife?
Post Reply