I like to think about the ways in which we all have some sort of dogma. Why is it that it's so common to want a job? People should and have, historically, fucking hated the idea of a job. It's such a pervasive idea in our society that one of the most common things we ask our kids is ''what they want to do when they grow up.'' One of the most common opinions about how we should educate our kids is on the basis of what is in demand on the job market. If you goof off in school, the teacher will tell you ''if you fail out of school you'll be a garbage man.'' ''Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life.'' I've even heard it said, rather on the nose, that without jobs what purpose would people have in life. Think about that shit. We're all just so resigned to the idea of renting ourselves out for the best hours of the best years of our lives until our dreams are dead and we're shadows of our former selves, just waiting to die. I wonder if rich people tell their kids the same things?
Bro, have I got a video for you. In here, a young Chomsky touches upon the very idea you're pointing out. Absolutely, completely, totally, unquestionably a must-listen.
Best line: "Our characteristic assumption, that pleasure and work, pride and work, is either unrelated to, or negatively related to the value of the output, that's an assumption that's related to a particular stage of social system, namely capitalism, in which human beings are tools of production. It is by no means necessarily true."
Basically, we hate work because, in the capitalist system, we have bosses who give us orders and they decide how and when to work, not the workers. What's more, in this system, the accumulation of profit is the goal, not to improve society, make discoveries, or help people (those are just slogans corporations use in their ads). Of course, the solution to this is... anarchism. The most democratic system that exists. No owners, no bosses, no managers. The workers decide everything.
In other videos, he's mentioned how academia is one of the most anarchist-ish professions out there. Yeah, you have certain pressures and have to abide by some rules. But for the most part, you have the freedom to pursue the topics that you're interested in, teach what you want, research what you want. He's mentioned that he knows some researchers at MIT putting in 80 hours of work a week in the lab simply because they're so into their projects.
