There is a great deal of discussion of what people will do if employees are replaced by machines. This centers both on the need for financial sustenance along with meaning. After all, how will people finding meaning and purpose in life if all the jobs are gone.
Unfortunately, this means we are operating under two presumptions.
The first is that we will see catastrophic job loss due to technological advancement. It is a topic that is naturally debated. For the sake of this article, we will go with this line of thinking.
A second presumption is that people derive meaning in their life from the work they do. Here is where we are going to focus our attention.
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Web 3.0: Replacing The Labor Economy
We touched upon the concept of the labor economy being disrupted.
For the vast majority of us, our financial livelihood depends upon our ability to exchange our labor for money. This is the entire premise of our working lives. Even those who find themselves supplemented by investments tend to have the majority of their incomes tied to the labor swap mechanism.
The presumption that people derive meaning from this is a stretch to me. While there are many who are driven by passion for their work, most find it drudgery. It is a number of years since I looked this up but, at that time, the most recent data said 80% of Americans despised their jobs.
This does not sound like a meaning or purpose driven career.
Of course, this makes sense. Look at all the crap jobs that are out there. We have mind-numbingly boring office work. Fast food sucks. Custodial services is awful.
Then we add in the fact that dealing with the general public in any regard is usually a nightmare due to selfishness, entitlement, and arrogance.
Hence, the idea that people get purpose out of these jobs is misguided in my opinion. Naturally, that does not mean people working in those fields do not have self-worth, are not driven, and lack meaning. I met many who were just that. My argument is, however, they did not get the meaning from the work.
From this perspective, my conclusion is we are dealing with a non-issue. People will have no less meaning in a world where they do not swap their labor for income since the overwhelming majority are not getting it from there anyway.
This means Web 3.0 has the potential to offer so much more.
Meaning In A Web 3.0 World
It is almost a meme today.
People look at those who spend their days playing video games as wasting their lives. The joke is they need to move out of the basement and get on with it.
A flipside to this is we do have professional gamers who earn a strong living from gaming. Going even further, we know the gaming industry earns billions, employing millions of people. How come they are able to derive "meaning" while the gamers (the end user) is not?
It seems that we are conditioned to believe that, unless we are paid for it (i.e. money for labor), it has little value. Expanding upon this, we can conclude the idea is no pay, no meaning.
A potential future without jobs done by humans presents as much of a psychological challenge as financial. It might be easier to solve the monetary problem as compared to the mental one.
Here is where I think Web 3.0 can solve a couple problems.
As we covered on a number of occasions, Web 3.0 changes the game because it alters the ownership structure. Those who understand this concept realize that the accumulation of assets is fundamental. Too many focus upon income instead of net worth.
For some reason, we do not take the same outlook on the "retired" as we do the unemployed. Consider the 45 year old who lives off income derived from assets. Is this person lazy if he or she is lounging around all day? What is the meaning or purpose for this person?
Obviously, we are dealing with a highly personal question that can only be answered by each individual. That said, it is all part of the psychology we adopted as a society.
In keeping with this, people can still attain the congruence within themselves (and society in general) with Web 3.0. If one is successful at asset accumulation, then living off the income generated is mentally acceptable.
One is also free to find his or her meaning.
This actually could come from within the Web 3.0 realm.
For the moment, a lot can be derived by being a part of the building process. There is a lot of work to do within this realm. We are still in the early days of this transition. Many can not only stake their financial claim, but also their purpose is so driven.
Hopefully, we can see how this psychological transition can be made. I surmise that we would have significant higher number of people with meaning with a Web 3.0 world as compared to what we are presently dealing with. The time for income does not work overall. We know the majority suffer in a lot of ways.
Here is a different opportunity. We will see how it all unfolds.