# The Trap of Selling One's Labor By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2023-11-18 Exploring what one is attempting to achieve through employment is potentially constructive and informative. Work can be ennobling and rewarding. Working for somebody else doesn’t tend to be. Going to work for another is an interesting model. In some contexts and moments in history, it made more sense. The first computer, ENIAC, cost $400,000 in 1946 to complete. That is about $6,300,000 in today’s dollars. One can buy a computer for between $500 and $2,000 today. The barriers to employment outside the traditional model of working for somebody are significantly less than they have been since the Industrial Revolution. And yet, it seems that people’s default expectation is to sell their labor to others rather than the product of that labor. When asked, people will often reply that they prefer the job security of working for a company. What does this job security entail? It would seem that many organizations can lay off or fire people whenever they want, and the worker has little recourse. Maybe humans are pack animals, and being in a system makes us feel more secure. It is difficult to see how selling one’s labor to others leads to anything more than servitude. Freedom comes from selling the product of one’s labor, not the labor itself. When work is sold, the company owns the product. If one creates something amazing, guess what? The company owns and benefits from it. They might give the creator a bonus, but they reap the reward. The standard rationale is that the company assumed the risk by making the capital investment that enabled the development. If one used the $6 million ENIAC, that is likely accurate. If one uses a $2,000 computer from a big box store, it obviously isn’t true. And yet, it happens all the time. Selling one’s labor perpetuates the social, cultural, and economic status quo. If one doesn’t have a personal computer yet, one would only need to sell one’s labor long enough to buy a computer, seize the means of production, and join the revolution. #### Related Items [[Work]] [[Computers]] [[Productivity]] [[Ownership]] [[Freedom]] [[Status Quo]]