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submitted 11 months ago by matcha_addict@lemy.lol to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

I often daydream about how society would be if we were not forced by society to pigeon hole ourselves into a specialized career for maximizing the profits of capitalists, and sell most of our time for it.

The idea of creating an entire identity for you around your "career" and only specializing in one thing would be ridiculous in another universe. Humans have so much natural potential for breadth, but that is just not compatible with capitalism.

This is evident with how most people develop "hobbies" outside of work, like wood working, gardening, electronics, music, etc. This idea of separating "hobbies" and the thing we do most of our lives (work) is ridiculous.

Here's how my world could be different if I owned my time and dedicated it to the benefit of my own and my community instead of capitalists:

  • more reading, learning and excusing knowledge with others.
  • learn more handy work, like plumbing and wood working. I love customizing my own home!
  • more gardening
  • participate in the transportation system (picking up shifts to drive a bus for example)
  • become a tour guide for my city
  • cook and bake for my neighbors
  • academic research
  • open source software (and non-software) contributions
  • pick up shifts at a café and make coffee, tea and smoothies for people
  • pick up shifts to clean up public spaces, such as parks or my own neighborhood
  • participate in more than one "professions". I studied one type of engineering but work in a completely different engineering. This already proves I can do both, so why not do both and others?

Humans do not like the same thing over and over every day. It's unnatural. But somehow we revolve our whole livelihood around if.

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[-] HipHoboHarold@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

I also jump around with this. Like I would definitely read more. But there's a part of me that would love to write books. But also male music. But also paint. Basically I would do something in the realm of art.

I wouldn't mind having a part time job doing something physical. Like I used to work at a warehouse for a medical supplies company. It was probably one of my favorite jobs. I could see myself doing that again. Gives me a reason to get out of the house, be active, and people will always need the supplies. Ironically I lost the job because we got bought out by one of the world's largest corporations so they could make even more money, and they closed us down. So I lost that job because of capitalism.

[-] sculd@beehaw.org 8 points 11 months ago

Reading. I have lots of books I want to read but not enough time / energy to do so.

[-] Plibbert@lemmy.ml 8 points 11 months ago

Imma be honest I have no idea. I might legit just sit here and be a leech on society playing video games and watching shows. But I'd like to imagine I would go back to school and try and do freelance repair/maintenance for various things. I just honestly don't know if I'd do enough to consider it a fair contribution to society.

[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

Im fortunate. I love my career. I've been doing since I was 12 what I do for a living now at 39. I'd still do what I do if income were a non-issue.

With that being said, I'd probably only do it three days/week or so, being able to pick a more realistic balance between productivity and burnout would be great. I'd also spend that time making something I want, for me, rather than doing what I'm told. I feel like that's significant here as well.

[-] Blapoo@lemmy.ml 7 points 11 months ago

Go hiking everyday

[-] TacoButtPlug@sh.itjust.works 7 points 11 months ago

If money weren't an object and I didn't have to worry about rent I would love to bury myself in math, chemistry, earth science, medical science, language, and systems development studies. Then I'd spend my free time sharing what I learned with others who want to learn, focusing on under represented. I'd also do more outdoor sports.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 6 points 11 months ago

What would allow that isn't communism, but a "post-scarcity" society, much like Star Trek TNG. A lot of what we take for granted can only happen thanks to the commercial logistics of fucktons of materials going around.

I'd devote more time into programming, performance optimization, processor architecture and computer graphics. These things are still "magic" to me and there aren't many resources, especially on the "bare metal" graphics part of most recent parts. Once I figured it out enough to feel confident in passing that knowledge around, I would do that in english and portuguese

One thing that I'm already doing thanks to my job giving me a decent salary for only 20h of work is my own game project. Something that I'll probably end up selling, but I'll probably be the first to release a pirate/free version of it, too.

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[-] lungdart@lemmy.ca 6 points 11 months ago

I would spend my time the same way. Honing my specialization to increase benefit to society. I love software development!

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 5 points 11 months ago

I would be what I am now, just a more "official" version of it, since what I do is akin to a paid hobby and has no firmly nested societal position. But that's assuming what I do would be valued in other types of societies either (it's just barely valued in Capitalism). I know a Marxist society most likely wouldn't value what I do as it's only a necessity-based job on a technical level. And it would have little relevance in Distributism, I think. Mutualism is a coin toss.

[-] matcha_addict@lemy.lol 5 points 11 months ago

What do you do now?

[-] CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net 5 points 11 months ago

I'd love to spend more time planting trees. I volunteer to do it occasionally on weekends but I really love the process of going from sprout to seedling to planted. I just wish I could do more of it.

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this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2023
284 points (78.0% liked)

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