A young lady tries to adjust her mirror in order to apply some make-up. She seems to be headed to a very important meeting. Two cars down, I can make out a middle aged man yelling on his phone. He looks like he is about to have a heart attack. The guy on my right looks like a zombie that popped out fromThe Walking Dead. Most others are zoned into oblivion.
Stuck on traffic lights during rush hour is perhaps the most depressing thing I can endure as a human being. At some point, I can't help myself but start pondering about the lives of those around me. The thought that they are stuck inside these mobile cubicles trying to reach... a stationary one, poisons my existence. And for what? To fulfill mostly someone else's dream?
These fellow human beings will repeat the same ritual over and over again for years to come. Worse of all, they are stuck inside the wage-slavery limbo. The only reason they can continue doing what they are doing is because everyone else is doing it as well. Is this supposed to be our 'liberating upgrade' from slavery?
The idea of the wage is a dreadful one. A human being is getting paid a fixed amount of money a month, despite their variant performance throughout the year. It is as if you pay an arbitrary rent for being alive. You get a basic stipend so you can continue being relevant.
Slaves 300 years ago had food, water and shelter on a daily basis. Their masters catered for them because they were valuable property. They received free medical care and had allowances. Today, wage-slaves can barely pay for food, shelter or medical care. Bosses treat workers much like disposable underwear and at the end of the month still have nothing to show.
The slavery imagery sculpted inside our minds consists of a white man waving a whip on a poor soul. I wonder how future generations will choose to iconize the relationship with our bosses.
More and more people are in need for psychiatric medication in order to handle this existential delirium. More and more 'disorders' are invented in order for people to willingly shove sedatives down their own throat. Forcing someone to accept soul medication appears violent and twisted. Get everyone to do it and it goes almost unnoticed.
Who wouldn't medicate themselves to sleep? How can one bare such a dreadful existence and still be able to get up from the bed and join this charade? Most create families in hope that this will cure or alleviate the pain. They too soon realize that they only propagate the same fortune to their own children.
source
We have the chance to break free from all these. We are now taking the first steps towards the blockchain revolution. Individuals no longer need to sell their soul to an arbitrary master. Decentralized networks empower individuals to form and pursue their own dreams.
Initiatives like Aragon, will allow anyone to create and manage their own companies. Bancor will let you create your own tokens. Bitshares powers a decentralized exchange platform. Steemit brings a revolution to the way social media platforms operate. Every sector is being revolutionized as we speak.
source
The Internet some decades ago begun something that seems to have risen from a science fiction book. The entire planet and its people got connected under an invisible network. The mechanics are still unknown to most people but that doesn't stop it from being the most liberating human initiative. Our minds expanded beyond our wildest dreams compared to our ancestors.
Through the internet humans got to learn about who they are and how we all relate. We got to see our masters up and personal — removing the myth from the man. We started questioning and doubting the status-quo. We understood that we are being played but our feet were still bounded by the wage-slave paradigm of the industrial revolution.
Blockchain technologies can bring an end to this. They can offer solutions to political and economic problems that have been tyrannizing humanity for centuries. A decentralized network no longer relies on the tribe but on the individual. No one is more important than another. One can rise as easy as they can fall.
I believe we will all embrace the potential of blockchain technologies and join the wave. People will come to realize that they can choose not to sacrifice 8 hours a day serving someone else — other than themselves. Our early ancestors spend little time on food and shelter and dedicated much of their existence in enjoying life. We have the tool today to reverse engineer our primitive ways and remember once more how to be human.
AI is more likely to end wage slavery than blockchain, but perhaps not in an utopian way.
indeed. it will never be utopia
Blockchain has challenged the stated norms of our financial world already, i am excited to breathe in the era of its happening.
excellent
Qualifications , Self employment , Self improvement , Continuous self development is the answer .
I worked once for a short while never again , you can earn a months wages in a day if you use your innate abilities and humans are filled with ability .
AI and block will improve our lives or at least the ones who know there is no limit to your ability and capability it will rid us of the banks and politicians who feed of us and maybe free us for unlimited success .
we know it's not the perhaps. it's romantic to think anything different! :)
Well, Utopia is not far away , but we have to stay positive :) AI & blockchain is here to stay for sure! :)
Blockchain is the future and it's here already. Many people are just not aware of it yet.
My thought exactly. Most people struggle to realize the potential...
AI will only create useless eaters.............. and if we are not careful that will around 6-7 billion of the worlds population. ......... agenda 21 anyone
If i may intrude, i don't see AI ending wage slavery in the part of the world where i am before Cryptos cos this thing is spreading like wild fire, i saw a seminal somewhere not far from me about blockchain and i am gonna attend it tomorrow.......Blockchain 1: 0 AI
You may always intrude. Good luck!
i couldn't agree more. blockchain's time is now due to the convergence of many global political/economic/tech/weather factors. i'm very hopeful myself that blockchain will indeed liberate us, from debt-slavery and more.
honestly, AI may just have to sit the bench for this play.
"Give me control of a nation's AI and I care not who makes its money." - bigmo
True
Might end wage slavery, but might end up with state slavery or imprisonment. Total control.
So far the level of tax has reached historical highs, and are still climbing. The state are taking more and more % of the peoples wealth production. Even the wealth production is so high that also most people has more wealth.
In Norway, we are now at 21% of the working age population living on government money. If you take out government employees from the equation (they are not producing, or producing very little of real value), we are down to about 15% of the population doing work in the private sector (real wealth generation). And even a part of those are delivering services to the government wich takes of even some more percent.
We are certainly moving in the direction of a state society like North Korea, but with more wealth, higher standard of living and a majority dictatorship instead of a dictator.
As we know, the state is the most ineffective organisation, this will at some point crash like it has done in all other places where the state got to big, like f.eks. Venezuela.
Why does the reply end up all the way down here? This was a reply on eek's "AI is more likely to end wage slavery than blockchain, but perhaps not in an utopian way."
Only people can end wage slavery. The blockchain can be a tool used to speed the solution up though. :)
Excellent post, I think the blockchain has nearly limitless potential in it's application.
Well put!
"I believe we will all embrace the potential of blockchain technologies and join the wave. People will come to realize that they can choose not to sacrifice 8 hours a day serving someone else — other than themselves. "... very well said. I think blockchain will make this possible.
thank you
Considering blockchain enables the free flow of money all over the world, the possibilities are endless.
It does seem that the blockchain is the steam engine of our generation and experiments like Steem hail the advent of a new technological revolution.
If we have learned from history, we know that the steam engine did not free us from labor, though; instead, the workers engaged in the folly of competition with the machine: and they clearly lost the battle.
I would like to share your optimism, but I think we have the holy duty of making sure that the blockchain will not be [ab]used to shackle the next generations in a "cryptotechnocracy" even more thoroughly than the current system could.
Few have the knowledge or time to audit the source code, or even predict the outcome of including this algorithm or adjusting that variable. Let us make sure that not again, the "second class" incites the "third class" to remove the "first class" so that the second class becomes the first and the third remains the third as always – the way Orwell describes in his "book within a book" in "Nineteen Eighty-Four".
I am giving you full upvote because i share the same exact thoughts. The only difference is that humans tend to avoid the dystopian scenarios we are making. We tend to learn from our narratives.
This is actually true. It's a similar concept perceived differently. In the future, people will see the way we work the way we see slaves from a few centuries ago. I also believe that today, we get to experience exciting times, a real change just like our grandparents experienced change when electricity, telephones and cars were introduced. The world will never be the same again.
Indeed. We will live to tell of the transformation.
Hopefully crypt I is going to make a big difference in the known wordl.. I'm waiting for the day it gets mass adopted.. Heard they were rolling out BTC atm's in some countries..
But as to what I see either and BTC are on a journey to the moon..
Have used a btc atm as far back as 2014, was a 'mixed' experience. Not sure how it would work now with the slow transaction speeds!
yeap. heard that too
Thanks for sharing! Interesting question! I believe investing is a way of ordinary people breaking away from wage slavery, and as cryptocurrency is a kind of investment, then yes it would help to break the status quo. However, we are slave of money still at the end, we try our best, sacrificing our time with family, our health and so much more for money. Probably its time to rethink if it all is worth it
Not really. Value always exists with or without money. the point is to be in control.
although it is still currency, decentralization is a needed evolution for our species. it is a movement toward a money-less system.
Complete financial freedom was once a dream, that more often than not, remained unfulfilled. But everything is changing for the better, even the social and economic barriers that tied down women in developing countries are slowly breaking.
I was reading about Women's Annex Foundation (WAF) that works towards the betterment of Afghan women. The foundation teaches young women various skills such as social media engagement, software development and blogging among others.
The best part is - they are paid in bitcoin.
I myself worked at my job for more than 12 hours/day. I was proud of what I was doing and it gave me immense satisfaction that I was showing excellent results. The bosses were happy, the clients were happy and the investors were happy. The only person that was not happy was me. The day I left my job was the day I realized what freedom was. I still struggle and have problems - but I'm my own boss. I'm independent. I no longer spend hours in my car, adjusting my makeup in peak hour traffic, on my way to a meeting that only results in profits for my boss.
We have the tool today to reverse engineer our primitive ways and remember once more how to be human. (loved this)
Steemit..... a decentralized social network that offers hope to INDIVIDUALS. I can see light at the end of the tunnel.
Thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Thank you! (Upvoted and followed.)
Wow, thank your for the Afghan insight and the thoughtful comment. :)
Thank you for an insightful and interesting post :)
Wasn't familiar with the phrase Blockchain Technologies, so thanks much for that. One of the things Eric Larson and Seth Tobocman illustrate in the graphic novel Understanding the Crash is the parallel development of wage-reduction and debt-availability over the last few decades.
You are welcome. I will check it out. Wasn't aware of the book.
mmmhmm, thats a good an interesting parallel!
thanks, amigo.
I BELIEVE VERY STRONGLY THAT IT HAS THAT POWER, IF WE USE IT FOR THIS PURPOSE AND THIS IS ONE OF THE MAIN REASON WHY I AM INTO CRYPTOCURRENCIES AND SMART CONTRACT BASED ON THIS TECHNOLOGY.
Great job, again, thanks for sharing.
All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
thank you for sharing your thoughts once again man!
Relating slavery to the current state of affairs is a huge stretch. I get your point, but the relationship isn't even close.
Not everything we see on tv about slavery is true. Most slaves lead pretty normal lives. They just happened to be owned by some other entity much like people today are owned by banks. Sure some of them were tortured but that was the exception rather than the rule.
You need to append "all the time" for that statement to be remotely true, because everything reported on tv in cases of escaped slaves is entirely true, and much worse not reported, just not in every case all the time. Minority exceptions do not disprove any general pattern.
Virtually EVERY kidnapped person impressed into military work will suffer abuse you can call nothing else but torture. What else is ALL involuntary basic military training, and I'm not talking about the forced addiction, or the mind control techniques every imperial power developed in the past several thousand years, that any warlord or drill sergeant could have easily studied?
Ever heard a victim of the sex-slave trade recount their experience? If they're not suffering from Stockholm syndrome, their horror of the experience and hatred of their captors is nearly universal. Same for domestic slaves that may never have been sexually used, although that is much more common.
I find your blase attitude towards the violence and abuse of one of the oldest of primate (even chimps do something similar) evils really repugnant. Most slaves lead pretty normal slave lives. If they could lead relatively ordinary lives like MOST of the rest of the world, being "owned" wouldn't represent a constant existential and physical threat, or at the VERY least, the complete loss of personal autonomy that rises to the level of the worst Skinnerian conditioning conceivable. That some succumb to Stockholm syndrome doesn't mean they've simply changed their minds, that's yet more torture by their captors.
Now, if you want to make the point that common modern wage slavery is particularly pernicious because nearly everyone will think at some deeper, non-verbal level, "Thing's aren't really that bad if the boss doesn't come into my house whenever he thinks my performance is unacceptable, and torture me, or rape me, or steal my kids, or...", I'd still argue you're wrong, but wouldn't lose most or all respect for your reasoning and character.
Hollywood =/= Reality. Tell me next that you believe X-men are real and that the news sites are...objective
many slaves were sold from Africa due to the fact that they had debts from their countries. they weren't all abducted. Actually we don't know exactly how it went since accounts are rare and no way to confirm them.
Abuse and suffering is always contextual. For example if everyone around you lives pretty good and you are not then the trauma will be massive. If everyone around you has lost a child then it is ok since it is nothing normal. Trauma comes from something abnormal in comparison to the rest of people. A wage slave will be devastated if most people around them had their own business.
context is everything. People in the future will compare our lifestyles and assume that we were abused as well based on your reasoning. You can only compare with effective parallelisms..and this is what I did in my text.
That's a magazine-quality piece. I'm hugely impressed.
Having rarely worked for a wage of any kind, I have to say that when I did, I felt exactly what you're describing, no matter the great people I work with. Even now, when I'm on salary as a teacher, I maintain a good relationship with other work so as to provide myself with escape options. I think that's critical. I don't know if I could survive otherwise.
Thank you.
This is good if it's working for you but I also think that education will soon get its own blockchain boost.
Indeed. Relationships are everything.
Oh, it's happening right now. Educational disruption is a necessity, and I've operated on the black-market side in education for decades. It's only recently that I've infiltrated the charter school market, and that's only because it's a fringe school that tolerates, um, alternative teaching topics and methods. You're absolutely right that the blockchain--especially Steemit-style reward systems--are going to have a huge impact in education, and for me, it can't come soon enough.
Escape options are always king. Any workplace can turn intolerable because of office politics or some other kind of bullshit. In the teaching profession you're always at risk of trouble from the students.
True dat. My students have so far been terrific, which is great. But those escape options really matter, because one day...
I like your article, and mostly agree on your analysis of the human condition in our modern first world society, but I feel this conclusion is a little bit too short-sighted. It may seem like an ideal to serve only oneself when you are bound by the chains of wage slavery. But once you break your chains, you quickly realize that there is very little purpose in it and that a self-serving life is vain and pointless. Life is only meaningful to the extent that it is spent making other people happier.
The crux of the matter is that, unlike our current paradigm where looters are stealing your wealth under the false guise of common welfare and forcing you at gunpoint to contribute to the so called "common good" by subsidizing the life of millions of ungrateful parasites and their corrupt masters, one should be able to choose what purpose to pursue, whom to help, and in which way.
But idealizing a future where one would only care for one's own life and family is like barking up the wrong tree all over again. Another guaranteed waste of time that will let you feeling vain, empty, and more miserable than ever. There is a reason why most lottery winners end up poor and depressed in spite of having once achieved the much sought-after feat of reaching financial independence.
I think the best thing one can do for a fellow human being is to be selfish themselves. I am not a hardcore Ayn Rand-ish but it seems logical that once one establishes the belief that they want the best for themselves, they will inevitably end up helping others in order to get there. We are social animals. We are bounded to help one another. The question is not whether we will help each other but who we will choose to help.
Exactly. When people are able to stand by themselves and for themselves, they can make educated decisions about who to help and why. They can reason their sense of empathy. Today, with the current system, we are passing down the ball to the next guy. My grandma used to tell me that back in the day everyone helped each other due to lack of central government. If someone was hungry then someone stepped in. If someone was homeless, the same. Today though our fake "altruism" through governmental control has turned us more or less into apathetic human beings. This is far worse than pure selfishness. It effectively disables members of a society into doing the greater good by removing their sense of duty while they remain with the false belief of altruism.
I am not idealizing the future. I am far from a utopian. I believe that decentralization will simply remove central power from all parties and thus enable multiple revenue streams which can empower independence. Heck, even bosses will not even bother to have someone for 8 hours under their thumb. They too will have to branch out mostly through freelance rather than renting an office space — (accumulating more and more expenses under a new environment that will be massively antagonistic).
Thank you for the thoughtful comment.
good points recursive, but I think there is some merit to the idea of people breaking free of the current paradigm in a selfish way, and becoming selfless gradually after. I think it's human nature to want to help others (or at least I prefer to think that) but the way things work now people are greedy or will do things that hurt others in some way for personal gain, otherwise good people aren't willing to help because they don't have much help for themselves, and then scares of the future have them hoarding anything they do have to give to their family. Once things are more advanced and society-based I think people will be more generous without any incentive. In the end though, I think Artificial Intelligence will be the thing that changes everything, blockchain technology is amazing, but there's no telling what AI will come up with.
They will do all they can to keep legalized slavery alive and well.
perhaps.
This has been something that has plagued my mind for a few years now. I feel thankful of being an early adopter because I feel that perhaps I may escape the slavery that may ensue.
You are 100% right in every way what you say. I left my last job in search for my own life. I refused the option of another boss to pay me 10% of my actual worth. I wanted to go at it alone and earn my own power.
Blockchain technology has been amazing; for me, and lots of other people. We've been able to escape the chains that have bound us and tricked us into thinking a job for a master is the only way to be. For years, I was laughed at and jeered at for going my own way. Like I'm sure I have seen you say before, prepare to be mocked when you go against normal thinking.
I do worry, though. I fear we underestimate our masters and the coming adoption of Blockchain technology. First, there will be adoption into mainstream, then there will be a diversion as they put the necessary controls on to enslave us again. A good example would be where an ecig exploded in a mans face and it allowed them to gain traction to put controls in place and hike up prices.
Everything has an angle I'm learning. Never underestimate the fear that drives the public lol
wow. it is really amazing how many of us can relate to almost the same "escape" story. It almost looks like the scene where we are escaping from the Matrix ..lol
That is exactly how I feel! Escaping the Matrix. It is cold and damp and my home knit sweater is super dirty, but I paid my bills myself this month. And I didn't work for someone else.
Congrads!! you'll never go back :)
excellent. the pride of owning yourself
It's magnificent. One of the best things that has happened in my life. @justoneopinion I never will. Steem on!
It so does!! lol
It's certainly interesting to speculate... it remains a very young technology, so we get to witness how it plays out.
I already see Steemit making a tangible difference in people's lives... whereas they may be isolated examples, there are nonetheless real examples of people's lives changing. Whether that's scalable and implementable on a global scale remains to be seen.
Seems to me that the biggest crisis we face is really an outgrowth of wage slavery: The gradual erosion of hope. If you work, bust your butt... and realize that all you can ever hope to accomplish is to "run in place" you'll start to lose hope. Maybe what blockchain tech offer us is a sense of hope towards a better future.
I'll even use myself as an example... my wife and I are self-employed, with multiple income streams. Even so, we barely make ends meet. Steemit (as a blockchain tech example) offers a measure of hope because blogging here generates income that is in addition to rather than instead of something we've been doing all along... and that offers the hope that we can get back above water, somehow. Other projects-- like Viva and GrantCoin-- also offer people a measure of hope.
Thank you for the thoughtful project. Indeed we see more and more people getting into the space and looking for alternatives. I believe the blockchain has something for everyone. When people realize the potential it will revolutionize everything — already does.
My penny dropped when I realised (quite some time ago) that my installing a new ceiling in a friend's kitchen was more satisfying than any of the work I had ever done while employed by a big multinational company, no matter how much I liked being an IT architect for the technical aspect of it.
The money was good, the company's inner workings were a strange and sick form of mass hysteria. Being among fellow commuters every morning racing to work with grim and embittered faces didn't help either.
Standing still in heavy traffic I started to wonder: "What the fuck are we doing and why are we doing it to each other?"
After the almost inevitable burn-out, I am much happier now, though quite a lot poorer in money terms.
I kind sensed that your story was along those lines man. i didn't say anything because I didn't have any clues but darn I was spot on. I bet also photography has a lot to do with this story no? :)
Oh yes. Photographed since I was 10 years old, but it came back to the foreground.
Still like and do IT and electronics though, just in different settings, but if I could live off Steemit, I would, and relegate IT and electronics to hobbies.
Well sensed, BTW.
I've seen your work since you joined. You are one of the few people I believe I can relate to a great extent. I actually admire the way you chose to channel your thoughts into something creative rather than ranting like me :)
Same here.
And thanks, but I rather enjoy your rants, to be honest, specially when you kick against the pricks. Well-focussed anger can be a force for the good, as the opposite has never changed anything, so I hope you won't stop giving a fuck completely. Some things need pointing at, and that too can be done in a creative manner, as you regularly demonstrate.
thank you man. Will keep posting. Your feedback comments are gold, so keep them coming.
Freedom is priceless.
My everyday dark thoughts, expertly articulated, with the plus of a hopeful message at the end. Thank you!
Do carryOn!
Exactly! And I'm so grateful for platform's like steemit where I can pursue a life of complete financial freedom. I've never liked the idea of working for someone and I hope I will be able to be my own boss. Steemit is one of the few that make that possible.
Steemit is an entire new ecosystem filled with opportunities. I am sure you will find something
Excellent post. It makes one a bit depressed when you think about it...but there is light at the end of the tunnel.
always
Keep working, stop paying.
Money will always enslave the havenots to the haves for survival.
Rule by force is the problem, not who does it how.
This is very interesting. I'm pretty sure you're onto somthing, more than I am. I feel like blockchain technology and it's potential use is technological but also philosophical. To try and understand all it's potential implications is like trying to understand an Ayn Rand book. You follow it for a while, then your mind goes cross eyed. Just to have said it..not all bosses treat their employees bad. A lot of companies who are thinking new treat their employees very good. My employees each make more money than me :) I treat my business like steem power. I put money into that to expand and make it better for everyone (including myself) and I'm the person living in a small appartement and drive a cheap car, while my employees make lots more. They don't understand any of the sacrifices I make. So it's not as black and white as you put it I think :) Anyway..very interesting article!
I think it doesn't have to do with treating one bad or good. The whole mentality of wage makes bosses assholes and workers slaves. It is much like Milligram prisoner experiment.
What or who is Al? Blockchain will empower the small community and small communities will bring positive political change by empowering them
A.i. as in artificial intelligence
No AL not A.I.
Or maybe I heard wrong
Work institutionalization is a real feeling for people who have been slaving for more than 20 years, such as myself.
I am misguidedly confident in my ability to break the chains. But at my advanced age, it seems unlikely. I hope the younger generations don't crumple under the weight of pessimism and depressing behavior I see at work on a daily basis. That's the frustrating part, seeing spirits broken so early in life. The younger crowd, they will be the ones to see this thing through, and return control to themselves.
I think the younger generation realizes their position and will chase different paths. We already see it happening with many of them choosing gigs that lead to different income streams.
If I am going to be honest, I am a bit skeptical of just how much the Blockchain can actually effect change in society. I hope this sense of optimism I see here will turn out to be accurate. However, people were optimistic about the Internet itself and it has become much more centralized than many had ever dreamed it could be.
It seems to me that we have a lot of work ahead of us to make this technology revolutionary and to prevent it being subverted for hostile intent.
As for it replacing wage slavery, that seems a bit unlikely. AI are on the way, and they are being used to "eliminate" wage slavery. And by eliminate, I mean remove the "wage" part from "wage slavery".
The biggest problem I see in the future, other than climate change, isn't the continued existence of wage slavery, it's what economic model will replace it? A utopian society of plenty, where everyone's basic needs are met? Maybe. Hopefully.
However if history is any guide, such a future will only exist if we fight for it. We cannot sit around twiddling our thumbs and expect the blockchain or any other technology to change the world in our favor, for us. The blockchain is merely a tool. It cannot change the world without us to decide how it shall be used.
The only change that will make a difference would be multiple revenue streams for each person. This is what decentralization will bring. It will allow more freedom of choice.
We are in early - it will probably end some of our struggle and allow us to retire early, but as long as the primary world economy supports a structure which focuses a majority of the financial resources to a very limited portion of the population, there will be millions of free people and billions of wage-slaves.
I will also say I am not making a case against capitalist economic structures, there is a big negative to most world economic structures and this happens to be one for capitalism.
We will see
Indeed - Blockchain will have our support too. We will see and we will also help.
Great article @kyriacos been trying to get out of this rat race for years hopefully one day steemit can help who knows but I need more votes first lol, upped
Soon my friend. soon.
Freed up human being here. Blockchaining all the way! Great write up! If theres an argumebt that some businesses needs a large workforce, then it probably should exist anyway. We are now just in a tiny blip in time when centralisation is just a byproduct of how we evolved as a society, soon to break free. I hope.
it will. I see no other future really. way too many people woke up.
Well, everything has a purpose on its own.
If good things are progressing so with the bad.
The final battle is still yet to come.
If we think now of war, there are still more wars to come.
Talking of peace, its spreading more as well.
Can Blockchain Technologies End Wage-Slavery?
Yes, it can, maybe, I guess, but of course we couldn't predict when it will happen. And its already doing its job not only in wage-slavery but many other aspects in problem solving solutions in a variety of ways.
Lets keep going!
Keep steeming!
Steemup!
i think it is not a matter of if..but when
This post received a 26% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @kyriacos! For more information, click here!
For years I have referred to salary as slavery. I suppose low wage jobs are even a worse scenario. Salary has it's own dynamic being you get paid the same amount regardless of how much you work.
And at the end of your 10 years you get a nice $15 dollar clock. Meanwhile your boss just purchased his second Mercedes off of the back of your labor. LOL
It is not so easy get rich by starting a company. There are many more entrepreneurs than there are very successful entrepreneurs.
yeap. pretty much a living stipend like i said.
Yes indeed. We certainly are in a new era. Technology has busted opportunity wide open to anyone and everyone.
Perhaps, No more scaredy cats :)
i enjoyed your intro and the way you ended it..nice post...keep it up...am new as this my first day and already fired up by wonderful posts...following you already and hope you follow me as i do have quite a lot of interesting contents to tickle your fancy...
thank you. will do
I agree that being a "wage slave" is no fun. However, we have so many more resources and so much knowledge at our disposal, that the sky is the limit to what we can achieve. We can start our own business. We can learn a trade. We can get educated and get a great paying job. Above all, in reality, we have a lot of things we take for granted. Freedom of religion, speech, cars, homes, freedom to travel, freedom to own a gun, and a general freedom of choice. I do not understand how anyone can compare "wage slavery" to ACTUAL slavery (where hard labor is almost a guarantee while benefits and land ownership were almost NOT a guarantee). I think this generation is too spoiled to realize how lucky and fortunate they are.
3/4 of the people on this planet do not have shelter, food and water on a daily basis. 93 out of 100 small businesses fail within 3-5 years. Most people have no alternative but to work in menial jobs that barely takes them through the month.
Not all can get a great paying job due to the nature of our system. Historical slavery did not actually involve hard labour (that's the movies part). Most slaves were simply owned by their bosses as much as most people today owe so much to the bank that they end up slaving away, day in and day out to just make the bare minimum interest payment.
I agree completely about our cultural addiction to the 9-to-5, BUT-
Full stop.
Your portrayal of historic (US-style) slavery as anything positive to the enslaved is, to say the least, INSANELY twisted, as the modern, very real (not wage) slavery operates in precisely the same manner it always has, but with much more advanced tools- and I'd say you need to supply testimony from an ex-slave (and there are many thousands around the world) not suffering from Stockholm syndrome to make that case. I almost never would consider doing this on Steemit, but I have to call TOTAL BULLSHIT! on that.
When food, shelter, clothing, medical care, etc. are ENTIRELY controllable by an external authority with life-and-death authority, you're in an entirely different category of servitude from one which nearly any one can actually opt out of with proper preparation and clear and careful thought.
If we don't like the addictions the system is serving up to keep us in the "productive citizen" category, we can STEEM on away from it all- I doubt that option is accessible to slaves in China, SE Asia, the US and the rest of the hemisphere, or anywhere else (or EVERYWHERE else, for that matter). Escaping, or aiding in the escape, could get you killed in the US, and still can.
TL;DR? Real slavery is real evil, real violent, and really difficult to escape.
Wage slavery may be real evil, but it's not that difficult to escape. What else are we doing here?
Well, I did make the same that the slavery part is more or less the same
Far, far less in terms of REAL evil suffering-
https://steemit.com/chainbb-general/@freedomnation/new-slaves-modern-human-trafficking-infographic
I never talked about contemporary human trafficking.
Amen brother...... there is nothing I am more passionate about than a dream of being freed from this cage called modern society. But I cannot see this happening until the ELITE are knocked off their perch my a great disaster that is going to also hurt a lot of innocent people
The elite will always exist. The point is to render them less influential.
Whether it's because of blockchain tech or AI, wholesale change is needed ASAP. The world, as it currently works, is broken. At least in the eyes of those looking up at their masters. Nice intro with "mobile cubicles".
thank you. it will change. it has to
You know, I can relate with the fact I get paid the same, or even less than my predecessors or others in a similar role, when I outperform and go above and beyond every day. However, I find value in the relationships I have built in my current and previous jobs. It's true some people could care less and they are just after your services, but at the end of the day, there are always a select few who can make your day.
I do have a goal to one day, in the very near future, to be my own boss, to set my own rules, but most important, to live life every day as it was my last, as there is so much to enjoy out there.
People are people at the end of the day. The important thing to keep in mind while chasing the end goal is to preserve who you are. Most people get lost into the rat race and forget why they got in to begin with.
ha ha! Then and Now cracked me up! It's the truth!!
:)
It's all unfolding according to Nikola Tesla's predictions.
we shall see
Seven years ago, my older brother told me that blockchain technology was going to change the world and that I should learn as much as I can about it. I didn't listen. At the time I thought it was all too complicated and wasn't looking at the bigger picture. But now look at us. I hope what you say turns out to be true, and I hope communities such as this one continue to thrive.
It will arrive. For better or worse. We should embrace it instead of avoiding.
Great post my friend. We are all slaves, we are not bound in chains but in debt!
I think your final phrase is a good point. Especially in developed economies, debt is a big issue that keeps people in the rat race. That is going to be hard to fix because the powers that be have a huge incentive to keep us indebted as it keeps us relatively compliant. If we want to get rid of wage slavery, we are going to need to start using cryptocurrency more for basic living expenses so that the framework for exiting the system can be built. For example, if farmers markets and small groceries except Bitcoin for example (and maybe even energy co-ops), there will be a good framework for beginning to make it more streamlined for people to opt-out of the system. Until we can avoid using the regime's money to live, we are going to be their slaves.
Yes the whole situation is completely messed up. Those who have it and those who don't. The rich keep piling it on and the poor keep getting deeper into debt. Followed.
Right - and since, at least in the US, the central bank targets inflation at 2%, and there are increases in other costs do to distortions in their markets (e.g., healthcare and education), people have to make a fair amount nominally more each year just to break-even. That is why it would be powerful to become to develop cryptocurrency alternatives for core requirements in life (energy, food, etc...) so that a parallel economy can develop that is inflation proof. An inflation proof currency is just a medium of exchange; whereas, currency now is the dark elixir the powerful use to weigh down us plebs.
As long as the government doesn't mess with it! Which we are all lying to ourselves if we think that the government will leave us alone.
Yeah> lets broke this wall!
I agree 100%. Followed and thanks for your comment.
thank you
The possibilities are limitless. There may still be wages but soon they will all be blockchain-based. Proof of work may literally be that, for whatever amount of work rendered, whether legal, education, manufacturing, it is compensated accordingly. You won't have to worry about co-workers that spend 3 hours on breaks and still get paid the same or higher wages.
Reminds me of the black mirror episode:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteen_Million_Merits
remember than one :)
I am figuring things out on steemit, and you are just a great follow. Thanks for the meaningful content, I'll do my best to share the same.
thank you man
will create a transfer of wealth for the early adopters for sure and create a lot of wealth
the paradigm will change.
agree, my son started mining at 13 he is 15 now and we have full farms running hundreds of cards. i cant imagine where early adopters are sitting now............kids making more than i did per year mining.
Impressive indeed!
without blockchain technology, i cant imagine Robot or A.I economy in the future, world is heading to that direction. blockchain==>transaction chain. even if all physical jobs are taken over by robots, it means people will actually have time to do whatever they want (whatever?!) <----- scares me a lot, a lot in 21st century.
time for more researching and fun for all. the 8 hour scheme is ridiculous to begin with.
Awesome story that will become reality, resteeming for sure! :D
thank you
What amuses me is that people still want to bring the old financial rules to the blockchain system: ICO, casino trading, scarcity, wages etc LOL. Why not create a new game where everyone can win? And make things fun as opposed to the boring Federal Reserve System.
the games can remains the same and we can still all win. that' the beauty
The best part is that for the most part the powers that be have not a clue about how much decentralized distributed ledgers are going to change everything.
indeed. and when they do is going to be too late