The new society thread

[CFTraveler]

Are you the night type of person, then? How do you experience your, unusal I guess, schedule?
And what were the schedules in medieval times? I thought it was all about sunrises and sunsets defining how the societies functioned then.

They did, but seasons made nights longer, and people didn't sleep more. Instead they divided their sleep in 'first sleep' and 'second sleep' (you can find offhand comments about this in medieval plays, some of Shakespeare's, for example) and actually had a 'waking' intermission in which they got together and had light meals or read in bed- that sort of thing.

There is also a weekly schedule. Why do we have to follow these routines: 5-day work week, and the weekend. I must say, while first it was something normal, after some time I started to being tired of this routine of diving a week into two parts - always the same way! How about having 10 day-work week, and 4-day weekend some time? Or having "weekend" in the middle of the week? Or at monday? Wouldn't it be more fun with some less routine and predictability? I'm not talking about holidays as exceptionally free days.

The 5 day work week came thanks to christianity, which dictated that the Sabbath must be 'set aside for prayer.'. For the Jewish people the Sabbath is Saturday (Sabado is Saturday in spanish)(well, actually, it starts Friday night at Sundown) but when the germanic tribes declared Sunday to be God's day, then Sunday 'became' the Sabbath (imperialism, lol) and people decided to call it 'the weekend'. And not work.
But we don't really follow this because of belief, more like habit, and the desire not to be slaves. You can taylor your workweek any way you like if you have your own business, but it's not as easy as it looks.

[olyris]

My "rest day" is Sunday. Saturday is just for me.

[Antares]

My "rest day" is Sunday. Saturday is just for me.

Yes, this is how people think today. My feeling is everyday / anyday should be just for us. Any. There should be no such rigid division. No naming week-days (Moon-day, Sun-Day, Saturn-Day... and so on) hence is needed. I like the Chinese way of naming days: 1st, 2nd, 3rd... No extra meaning imposed on the days, no requirements. Wanting (or actually needing) to have a day just for yourself? So just set it to be so. European and American culture can learn so much from the ancient civilizations, and maybe we should.

They did, but seasons made nights longer, and people didn't sleep more. Instead they divided their sleep in 'first sleep' and 'second sleep' (you can find offhand comments about this in medieval plays, some of Shakespeare's, for example) and actually had a 'waking' intermission in which they got together and had light meals or read in bed- that sort of thing.

The 5 day work week came thanks to christianity, which dictated that the Sabbath must be 'set aside for prayer.'. For the Jewish people the Sabbath is Saturday (Sabado is Saturday in spanish)(well, actually, it starts Friday night at Sundown) but when the germanic tribes declared Sunday to be God's day, then Sunday 'became' the Sabbath (imperialism, lol) and people decided to call it 'the weekend'. And not work.
But we don't really follow this because of belief, more like habit, and the desire not to be slaves. You can taylor your workweek any way you like if you have your own business, but it's not as easy as it looks.

Thanks for these information. Well yes, in the older days it was more close to nature.

No it isn't easy; one of my collegues works at days, evenings, saturdays... wow. Work-life-style. Slavery, as you pointed this out. I'm currently trying to use the new opportunities in the modern XXIth century world to shift from the services-based work (which I have now, even if I'm kind of happy with the current work) to modern media business which I'm developing now (because I'm not happy with the rigid schedules ).

Technology and XXIth century
Let's use new opportunities and technology for our good, not for our undoing, as it is now. Technology should support freedom; it supports slavery at the moment, however.

People look at their ("smart")-phones' screens like constantly. It's slavery. Instead, modern technology (permission is the key) allows us to use it just when we choose it to, and stay dis-connected whenever we wanted. This is all about mental attitude. Starting with this small thing might change the whole future for the society.

Li(f)e about lack of creativity => mental slavery
How to live? Well... Let's other tell us how we *should* live. Let's be totally out of ideas, out of creativity; let's use only schemes that media propagades to us; let's live the way politicians and corporations tell us - let's live the life-style just coming from the advertisments, movies, tv series, possibly books. Let's be this artificially "designed" society, as we are, bored to the bones as people are. Let's believe that we only need to increase a number of "possessions" in our life.

Because we are totally uncreative, unable to make anything (new) just by ourselves, hence - as the old Chinese people would say - living the way of a slave. For, all of it starts in the mind - an attitude. What is the attitude (way) of a slave - it's so easy to see today. Examples of non-slaves are, on the other hand, hard to be found, hence the challenge.

This quote by Chuang Tzy comes to my mind when thinking of lack of creative attitude:

To be truly ignorant, be content with your own knowledge.

[Antares]

Division of labour

There were good points made by Adam Smith (and the basis of the modern economy nowaydays), and some not that much. But essentially, I think that since all people have certain preferences, talents, skills etc. it is the only acceptable philosophy and organization which results from the division of labour thesis today.

However, I'd think that the specialization should be more general, and not that much being down-to-earth or down-to-manufacture-needs, as it was originally suggested by Adam Smith. Observing how I was not happy with the results of the copywriters' work for my own business to develop, I concluded that the specialization should be placed elsewhere: in general skills and, especially, in abilities and natural talents and tendencies - much more, than the actual skills and maybe even experience.

I expected from the copywriters what they were supposed to do: write texts. I've tried out many so far, both individual freelancers and companies. I wasn't happy with even a single one, and wondered why.

This single observation led me to a kind of revolution in approaching the labour and changing the expectations from the people working for you. My conclusion was that people are lacking in something important: imagination. Division of labour should not apply, therefore, to actual work; it should refer to qualities, preferences and abilities.

Do not expect from e.g. a craftsman to do anything beyond he or she is exactly told to do. Without the imagination ability, people are only able to follow schemes, with possibly small modifications to them. But in general, they need to be told exactly what to do, no much creativity involved. I guess the same applies nowadays to: designers, marketers, sellers, even to many artists. If a person has a natural tendency to do something, he or she would do this anyway, just for fun (like writing blogs or something); if not, even with experience, he or she won't be anything more that a very average (poor, in fact) writer.

I had, however, one graphics designer, who was in my opinion excellent. He loved to be creative; he loved to create graphics. He wanted to have a lot of "space" for him to work. And he produced high quality stuff - much above what I expected. Here lays the difference, in my opinion...

High quality always follows natural tendencies. Everything else can be only average - at best. Leaving too much space for a craftsman, especially when paid by hours, leads only to a disappointment.

Monopoly is really not needed in an economy oriented into this division of labour (and only those who fear - not without a reason - to loose control over the market, tend to create a monopoly) - because the quality itself makes you unique, or creates a niche for your business, provided there is a need for the work you do.

It seems that the real creativity is a very deficient ability in modern times. I can imagine a dozens of businesses that could be built only with this single ability applied practically to a certain areas, particularly in the creative areas.

BTW writing texts is a very difficult taks - more than people think.

[CFTraveler]

Word.

[Antares]

Word.

I doubt if this sort of content attracted anyone to any blog or anything. But obviously I can be mistaken (I don't attend to social media thing, but maybe reading such stuff might be interesting for some folks there...).

[CFTraveler]

I doubt if this sort of content attracted anyone to any blog or anything. But obviously I can be mistaken (I don't attend to social media thing, but maybe reading such stuff might be interesting for some folks there...).

I'm just agreeing with you, it's an american colloquialism derived from popular music. "Word to your mother"=I agree. No need to put it down.

[Antares]

I know this is not the appropriate place, but I'm thinking that there are no real new movements there, somehow, any more as they were in the past.

Ok, there were some trials, but none worked so far.

Anyway, for at least some inspiration - worth to watch: