Comments | beautyofevening: Philosophical question

beautyofevening

Philosophical question

Mar 02, 2005 14:33

What could be the occupation of man, were he not driven by consumerism nor consumed by the effort to survive?

jmcphers and I were talking about consumerism today, and the ridiculous pressure this culture puts on us to keep consuming more more more! He commented that a "paltry" fraction of the population is all that would really be needed to keep everyone ( Read more... )

Comments 8

Bah! anonymous March 2 2005, 23:11:18 UTC

You might as well ask, "What if we lived in a world of infinite resources, where every day was Valentine's Day and the sun had a little smiley face on it?" Piffle. The fact of the matter is, the structure of our world is such that resources are limited. Man, as he has struggled out of the caves and built civilizations, has constantly had to struggle with himself for hunting grounds, mineral resources, oil, breathing room in general ( ... )

Re: Bah! anonymous March 2 2005, 23:59:01 UTC

This guy above is a dick, whoever he is. I agree with him on some points -- yes, man is probably hard-wired to accumulate. That's why 'Star Trek' always rang hollow for me. The idea of a 'culture of plenty' where nobody has to work but everyone does seems bogus ( ... )

Re: Bah! beautyofevening March 3 2005, 01:10:54 UTC

Why do I think both of you are Mike...? ;)

Anyway, of course it's a completely hypothetical discussion. But I'm asking for suggestions: what would man do if man didn't have to struggle?

I'm guessing your answer would be, "He would find something to struggle for." That's kind-of how culture works: people will always classify (rich/poor, smart/stupid, etc.) and then struggle to improve others' opinions of themselves.

Becoming wastrels isn't that far off. I suspect that if we didn't have to do anything, we'd just keep looking for more and more ways to shirk duty and be entertained. So is there a useful occupation for man? Or is he doomed never to be fulfilled?

Re: Bah! anonymous March 9 2005, 22:24:23 UTC

This 'Mike' you speak of...he must talk a lot of crap. If that's even his real name. If I were you, I'd write a ringing denunciation of him.

Thread 5

What do we do now when we're not working? wildmandave March 4 2005, 19:25:06 UTC

If man didn't have to work to survive -- well, most people don't work on weekends and find stuff to keep themselves occupied without much trouble. But okay, that's more of a break than actually "not working ( ... )

Almost randomly- and a bit late... anonymous April 8 2005, 06:23:47 UTC

Just to be troublesome- what would Art be about if struggle was removed from the world? You would be spending all your free time (courtesy of lack of struggle) reading and writing about something that no longer existed. Would Art eventually fade out? Would it become something entirely different?

Amy

Re: Almost randomly- and a bit late... anonymous April 12 2005, 09:41:35 UTC

I don't see why. Geoffrey of Monmouth and Sir Thomas Mallory have already firmly fixed his image in our cultural conscienceness. Even if struggle were to fade out, we should still remember him, though doubtless he would be more difficult to understand.