Last night we discussed an excerpt from Yuval Harari’s book.  The segment was titled The Meaning of Life In A world Without Work.

Perhaps you detect the minor, yet major difference between the title of my thoughts about living in a world where work is relentlessly reduced by the application of artificial intelligence, and that of Harari who believes that personal meaning is possible in such a world.

I have a contrary position that meaning is constructed by means of dedication of the mind and body to all forms of work.

We agree on the proposition that a life with purpose is a product of the mind, a fabrication of the imagination.  A life filled with meaning is not encoded within the DNA.  We make meaning.  Harari points to religion as an example of human fabrication.  That is absolutely correct.  Religion is one of many patterns, conceptual grids by means of which we understand ourselves and our place within reality.  Such patterns are mental overlays, jointly held, that we instinctively place over sense experience, in order to make “sense” of things and events.  A child when awakened by a nightmare, calls for a parent.  The experienced parent understands that his/her role is to narrate a story.  Our inexpressible fears, the innate confusion between an immense world and our finitude is calmed by a timely fairy tale. The stories are what we hold onto.

To religion,  as a means of conceiving, “giving birth” to reality, I would add the major economic systems, Capitalism,  the variants of Marxism, Communism and Socialism.  In addition one might consider the forms of government as fabricated approaches to exercising power to order society.  The United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia are distinct societies due in part to the difference in their governments.  All of this is to say that our lives are structured by many layers of imagination and decision making which fixes those imagined concepts into institutions.  The imagination is substantiated in institutional forms, sustained by our allegiance.

Given the peril of evaporating jobs, Harari suggests that a salve for the inevitable despair, the spreading contagion of hopelessness, could be the fabrication of another fiction, similar to religion.  The unemployable, “useless class” can live, blissfully,  within this fantasy, while their need for food and shelter are met with a universal basic income….

I was stunned by the absurdity of Harari’s proposal.

Religion considered, from a standpoint outside the adherent’s conviction, is a “put up job”.  The ritual and priest-craft as a abstraction appears a collective illusion.  From the perspective of a believer however, there is no alternative to the particular precepts, valuations, and expectations of this life and of the afterlife.  The Faith is as inevitable as is addiction to a cocaine user.  There is no outside.

How is a similar imaginary scheme to be cooked up to provide the “useless class” with their ersatz purpose?

The additional suggestion made by Harari to address our condition is that of a universal basic income.  The proposition immediately encounters the objection, “Who is going to bear the expense of a universal basic income?”  The inevitable response, money will be taken through taxation from those who have the biggest pile, from the Captains of Industry.  It’s an antiquated term but one that conveys the authority wielded by majority stockholders in a globalized corporation.  The mind stops cold at the idea.  Uber-wealthy individuals would instinctively label the idea “confiscatory taxation.”  They have used their wealth to influence government to reduce their tax burden for many years.  When hell freezes over would be the day that the wealthy pay more taxes, under the auspices of an advanced capitalist system.

You are certain to ask what are my thoughts on addressing the demise of work?  Capitalism, as practiced currently, valorising capital, rendering  illegitimate all other values, — begs to be modified.  Capitalism is practiced differently in other societies, modified by cultural differences.  In Scandinavian countries, Japan, Germany the relationship to economy and to society is conceived differently.  It is unrealistic to propose an complete alternative to capitalism.

Capitalism as understood and practiced must be changed in some fundamental ways.  Do we desire society to be sustained?  Do we wish to avoid devolving into abject poverty, misery, unrest for the majority?  What do we want?  What do I want?

The first step toward addressing our dilemma, the axe needs to be applied to the root of the problem….

Need I say more?