# Continuously Reducing Effort By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2024-04-13 Working today is easier than it has been historically. Easier might be too abstract. Work today requires less physical exertion. Advancements in AI require less mental exertion as well. In short, we are continuously reducing the work effort. There is much to celebrate here. Ideally, with less exertion, there is less damage done to individuals and less opportunity for injury. At the end of one’s career, one will likely be less broken than generations before. Continuously reducing work effort could allow one to work longer. However, not everybody would view that as an advancement. For all its potential benefits, there is a concern associated with continuously reducing the effort related to work. If fulfillment is influenced by exertion, work will become increasingly a source of dissatisfaction. Reducing the effort of work makes it easier. The degree to which work is made easy is the same degree to which one could hire nearly anybody, which lowers the work’s relative wage and prestige. If anybody can do it, and it takes nothing to do the work well, there is little opportunity for personal investment. One can always take pride in doing quality work. Gaining a sense of accomplishment requires a challenge. Reducing work effort makes it more challenging to experience a sense of accomplishment. This is a society amid a crisis of meaninglessness. We have pursued leisure and consumption to its limits. These will not help establish meaning; they will only alienate us from each other. Work should be enriching, economically and existentially. For most in our society, neither is possible. This potentially contributes to an undercurrent of dissatisfaction, fear, and anger. Overcoming this is not only about redistribution, though redistribution is needed. Having more things and working fewer hours will not make life more meaningful. Enjoying these things is enhanced when one feels one has earned them. That occurs when one’s unique abilities are used to accomplish something bigger than oneself. There is no shortage of utopian visions containing a more equitable distribution of wealth, less work, and more fulfillment. There needs to be a more equitable distribution of wealth, as this plutocracy is unsustainable. The tension between less work and more fulfillment requires more nuance. A reduction in labor hours is probably beneficial. Maybe a 24-hour work week would be appropriate (four six-hour work days). But this work should not be reduced to its lowest level. The work should be challenging, requiring people to think, solve problems, and invest themselves in its enactment. Continuously reducing the effort of work hasn’t made working better. Drudgery is as much mental as it is physical. Work in our society is broken. It is unjust and unfulfilling. Making work even easier will only compound both of these problems. #### Related Items [[Work]] [[Economics]] [[Fulfillment]] [[Effort]] [[Society]] [[Comfort]] [[Meaning]]