Why do we work?  I would venture to say that few people give much thought to that question.  But I think it’s a good one, and one that requires some examination now, for reasons I will get to a bit later.  But first, let’s start by thinking about that question.

     The simple answer is, “It’s just what we do.”  Which isn’t really that bad of an answer.  We were born into a system that requires it.  There is no other system, so we do it.  In some respects, it’s almost like asking, why do fish swim?  But not exactly.  The water surrounding the fish is their natural environment, and while it may feel natural, work is not a natural environment.  The system we live in grew so slowly that it can feel organic.  No one invented work.  It just happened.

     Most of us work regular hours during the day at some place away from our homes.  We get up in the morning, go to our place of work, do some kind of labor for a fixed amount of time, and go home.  We get paid a fixed amount for this work, and we use that money to consume the goods and services produced by other people’s work.  It’s a pretty neat system, but it hasn’t always been this way, and it does not have to always be this way.  It is not an immutable law of nature, although it feels like it is.

     In the beginning of the human race, people had to toil with hunting and gathering to feed themselves.  Really, not much different than the rest of the animals on the planet. Over time, humans developed more complex systems.  Early civilizations generally had rigid class systems, with royalty and other nobility that did not work, but lived off the fruit of other’s labors.  Often times those others were slaves, who did not get paid for their work.  And then there were the peasants, who farmed for themselves, traded in rudimentary markets, and gave to the royalty to perpetuate this system. 

     This hierarchy was enforced through violence and coercion.  I like our current system better than that, but the fact that other systems existed in the past, and currently exist in other cultures, suggests that our system is not eternal, and something else will exist for us in the future. 

     So why think about that now?  Because the pressures that will change our system are starting to be felt.  And we can either change it purposefully and thoughtfully, or we can allow it to change on its own, and there is no telling what will spring up after the collapse of the current system.

      That is not an alarmist statement.  Our system of work and wages is not in imminent danger of failure, but it is under pressure.  The anxiety felt by the working class across the first world, manifesting in nationalist sentiments embodied by things like Brexit and Donald Trump, is evidence of that pressure. 

     There are many pressures that are causing that anxiety, but I would like to focus on just one: automation.  Automation makes humanity more efficient.  That means we can create more goods and services with fewer people doing work.  This is an ongoing process that has been around since the beginning of work.  To compensate for the efficiency, we humans have been consuming more and more of the goods and services produced. 

     If you think about it, that’s the only way it can work.  Basically, all goods and services produced, must be consumed.  If we produce more goods and services with fewer people, then we must collectively consume more goods and services to keep people employed.  And if you look at the history of the first world nations, you will see that people have a lot more stuff than their great grandparents did.

     The industrial revolution put this growth of production and consumption into overdrive. That was the point in time when efficiency started to take off, and those of us lucky enough to live in one of the rich nations, have benefited from cheaper more abundant goods.  It’s why we have so much stuff.  But this system of producing ever more goods and services to be consumed in ever larger quantities by the population cannot continue forever.  At some point it breaks down. 

     Let’s imagine a future time when the system is so efficient, that no humans are needed at all to produce all the goods and serviced needed and wanted by all of humanity.  If you think this is impossible, just think about all the things we have today that were once impossible.  It only feels impossible because we have been increasing our consumption to keep pace with increased efficiency for so long that it seems like it can keep going forever, but it can’t. 

     Most people are instinctively nervous when imagining a future where their jobs are displaced by technology.  And the thought of everyone being out of work is downright terrifying.  That is why I’m thinking about the question at the start of this essay, “why do we work?” Remember, it’s not an immutable law of nature.  People can, and have, existed without work as we know it, and we will again.  The real question is not about work, but how we distribute the wealth.

     We currently use work as a method for distributing wealth.  This is as opposed to inherited nobility, subsistence farming, or some other as yet, unimagined system.  In our current system, our perceived value is quantified by our salaries.  Society tells us exactly how much goods and services we are worth by giving us a pay check that we can use to buy stuff priced at some percentage of that paycheck.  All of this is determined by the magic of the invisible hand of the market.  How much you are paid is driven by the market, and how much stuff costs is also driven by the market.  This isn’t one hundred percent true.  There are public sector jobs and goods and services that are paid for people other than the ones consuming them, but it’s close enough to true for these purposes.

     This brings me to my premise. Work is the method by which we distribute wealth, by and large. And at some point, there will be no more work. We can think now about how to prepare for that future, or let it evolve naturally. But I suggest that if we let it evolve, it will be hijacked by the powerful few, who will see to it that whatever new system arises, they end up with the lion’s share. As it unfolds slowly over time, it will come to be seen as natural, just as our system today feels natural.

     The other option is to plan for this eventuality, with an open and democratic process. Start slowly, keep up with the changes in technology as best as we can as a society. Target fairness. For instance, a guaranteed living wage has been floated as a possible option for today. Everyone is guaranteed enough to live on, and we can use work to augment that wage. It is a recognition that automation has already made a living wage hard to come by and can be increased as work becomes more and more scarce.

     This example is one way to get ahead of the problem, and if an open and democratic process is used to design the system, it will be designed in such a way as to make the system as equitable as society wants it to be.