Musings Report 2018-14 4-7-18 Philip Glass: Composer, Plumber, Taxi Driver
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Philip Glass: Composer, Plumber, Taxi Driver
I had a free-ranging discussion with podcaster KMO this past week on work, consumerism and Universal Basic Income, all topics I discussed at length in my book Money and Work Unchained.
KMO actually read and understood the book, which made the conversation a rare pleasure for me: The Poverty of Leisure.
Our conversation sparked a lengthy email response in which the listener explained that our podcast made him 'grumpy' because we'd discussed "enforced leisure" as a negative outcome of automation rather than wax positively about the tremendous freedom leisure gives people to follow their muse and pursue their most fulfilling interests.
Setting aside for a moment whether automation and "taxing the robots" will actually deliver up universal leisure and universal basic income (I think both are compelling fantasies), the question is: is a lack of leisure what's holding people back from pursuing their most fulfilling interests?
Clearly, people working 50 hours a week with long commutes have precious little time and energy to pursue their passionate interests. I get that being overworked leaves insufficient leisure to pursue one's self-actualizing interests; I lived that way for many years myself.
But that doesn't mean that leisure alone causes people to identify and pursue deeply fulfilling interests. Rather, observation suggests that those people with abiding passions/interests pursue them regardless of their livelihood.
Composer Philip Glass is an interesting example of this phenomenon. Glass (whatever you think of his music, which covers quite a spectrum) is a classically trained musician/composer who attended Julliard and lived the artistic ex-pat life in Europe for a number of years as a young man, but this wealth of intellectual capital didn't translate into a living wage for composing.
That process (of earning enough from commissions to quit workaday sources of income) took many years, and while he composed and played music he also worked "day jobs": plumbing, taxi driving, and working for a moving company.
He described in his memoir how he happened to install a dishwasher for a high-end music critic, who was astonished that the "artist" was doing plumbing to make a living.
Philip Glass: Composer and Taxi Driver.
While I understand the reality and appeal of the notion that the only thing holding us back is a lack of leisure, the reality is that people with passionate interests make or find enough leisure to pursue what's meaningful to them, and those without such passionate interests don't find equivalent interests just because they are given leisure time.
Unfortunately, most people don't have compelling passions/interests powerful enough to fill their leisure. Most of us need the structure of meaningful work, work that makes us feel needed and valued.
There's an irony in this interplay of leisure and work: those driven to pursue their interests will do so despite having to earn a living, while those without such driving interests do not magically develop them when they're deprived of work and have nothing but leisure time to fill.
The system I propose as a solution offers a dynamic mix of meaningful work and leisure. Communities need work done, and people need income, meaningful work and leisure. The precise balance between these should be up to the individual. This seems commonsensical to me.
Summary of the Blog This Past Week
Why Systems Fail 4/6/
Playing for All the Marbles 4/4/18
The Problem with a State-Cartel Economy: Prices Rise, Wages Don't 4/2/18
Best Thing That Happened To Me This Week
Warm sunny days made it a pleasure to go for a daily swim in the sea.
Market Musings: Rally or Crash?
The past 10 weeks have been extraordinarily volatile in the stock market. Months of orderly, low-volatility uptrend dissolved in late January into weeks of disorderly, high volatility moves: huge daily swings and trends that last a few days and then violently reverse.
There have been 3 peaks and 3 valleys in this 10-week period, swings that have left multiple open gaps which history tells us will get filled, usually sooner rather than later.
There are three basic ways for this to go:
1. The volatility will continue for an extended time, with big swings chopping up bulls and bears alike.
2. The volatility is a precursor to a massive crash.
3. The volatility is the market's way of pushing people off the bus for the next rally.
A case can be made for each of these. Trade conflicts and political uncertainty could fuel volatility for all of 2018 and beyond.
The volatility could very well be a symptom of a systemic destabilization that leads to a crash.
Or, as trading legend Jesse Livermore observed, the market tries to take as few people on the next rally bus as possible: volatility, fear and uncertainty are excellent ways to get people to get off the bus.
All sorts of predictions are being made, but nobody knows what will happen. I see a bit of divergence in MACD that could be bullish, and I also see the market has swung wildly for 11 days--basically double the time it took for the initial decline to wash out.
That suggests uncertainty and fear are becoming entrenched rather than dissipated. The market likes to climb a wall of worry, and it certainly has a wall of worry to climb, but it could go either way. I tend to think all those open gaps need to get filled before another decline can gain traction, but crashes don't always respect the rules.
From Left Field
The Scientific Paper Is Obsolete: Here’s what’s next -- long but worth the effort...
New Hope for Iraq? The Upcoming Elections Could Be a Turning Point "The corrupt political class that has ruled the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein and the system of governance that supports this kleptocratic elite also threaten Iraq’s long-term stability."
Fifty Years Ago the United States Government Killed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (via LaserLefty) -- another 'lone gunman' narrative questioned ....
Chart In Focus: Backmasking The DJIA’s Price Pattern -- coincidence or predictive?
Scientists Discover the Secret to Ancient Roman ‘Gate to Hell’
The Oligarchs’ ‘Guaranteed Basic Income’ Scam (via LaserLefty) -- always good to find yourself on the same side as Chris Hedges....
The future of retail is happening right now in China
The demise of the nation state After decades of globalisation, our political system has become obsolete – and spasms of resurgent nationalism are a sign of its irreversible decline. -- not so sure about this....
Not Your Grandfather's Trade War: The Revenge Of Bad Money, Part 1 -- excellent account of China's credit system....
Homeland Security to compile database of journalists and ‘media influencers’ (via Chad D.) -- why are we not surprised?
Why ranting on Yelp is the wrong way to complain about awful service -- but isn't sharing your experience with others the value proposition here?...
Condor embraces man who saved him when it was baby (video)
"Learn to distinguish what should be done and what not; The clever soul will always select his opportunity." Nagarjuna
Thanks for reading--
charles |
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