Everyone craves "normal" right now. Some think it's possible soon. Others question the idea of normal altogether.
You can probably already guess where I'm going with this, right?
Close to a hundred years ago, economist John Maynard Keynes thought the future would be so technologically advanced that the traditional work week would be a thing of the past. He thought we would eventually be able to work 15 hours per week. The defining problem of our lives would not be where we see ourselves working in five years, but what to do with our pretty, little lives right now.
Obviously, Keynes was a moron for even suggesting such a thing. The people need their nails done, you communist!
Because if we're not working, what are we doing? It's a question that's currently terrifying the nation. The need to be productive is in our blood. It's the defining characteristic of humans - we can't sit still. Our minds race our feet to the next destination. And America is #1.
We've brainwashed ourselves to always be productive. Even as our death toll reaches an overwhelming 3,000 per day, there are movements to get the people back to work. But to what end? Author Douglass Rushkoff struck the core of the argument in an article titled We Wish to Inform You That Your Death Is Highly Profitable. He wrote, "Trump’s message is clear: The economy is not here to serve human beings; human beings are here to serve the economy". He continues, "And we’re witnessing how the same exponential growth that gave the billionaires their fortunes is responsible for the fact that 40% of Americans have less than $400 in the bank for an emergency."
Why do we do it? Why don't we fight back by demanding more? Or better yet, sitting still?
My guess is the uncertainty is worse than a crushing reality. But the reality is it's all a bit uncertain. People just don't know how to live without the norms. We can't imagine not working.
I can barely imagine not being productive at all. Just because I'm writing this doesn't mean I have the answers. I'm not immune. I spent the first hint of spring, a few weekends back, wrestling an existential crisis. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and I had no idea how to handle it. Not in a "it's so beautiful" way, but more like a "what's the exact right task that would define my life right now" way.
It doesn't help that questioning the Almighty Economy or Things As They Are often results in a sideways glance.
Exactly because I find myself with these regular existential crises, I made the decision to negotiate working four days a week earlier this year. It wasn't a quick decision and it wasn't free. I explained to The Management that my work wouldn't suffer and I was willing to prove it on my own dime. But the worst argument I heard against it was often: "If you could finish five days of work in four, what can you do with five?"
That's not how this works. A human being is not a productivity machine. A corpse is not a customer.
It's all made up. Five days. Forty hours. Salary with benefits. Just because it's what we do doesn't mean it's what we need to keep doing.
I'm not calling for anarchy, I just want something different. If you look closely enough you catch glimpses. Amazon VP Tim Bray resigned this past week and made it clear in a blog post why. Amazon had fired several workers for demanding better working conditions after some warehouses workers tested positive for coronavirus. Bray saw the firing of the whistleblowers as "evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture." And in a Shakespearean twisting of the dagger, he continued, "I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison."
How do I deal? Whenever I feel myself leaning too far into the capitalist hellscape, I pull The Tao of Pooh off the bookshelf. It's short but powerful book that explains the tents of Taoism through the narrative of our simple Pooh Bear. I re-read it this past week and I've been thinking about the concept of the Bisy Backson a lot. Benjamin Hoff, the author, describes a Backson as someone "almost desperately active". Think Gary Vaynerchuk or Elon Musk. Backsons don't appreciate the simple, the plain, or the calm of nature, like a Taoist Pooh Bear would. Hoff explains, "It's not surprising, therefore, that the Backson thinks of progress in terms of fighting and overcoming. One of his little idiosyncrasies, you might say. Of course, real progress involves growing and developing, which involves changing inside, but that's something the inflexible Backson is unwilling to do."
Maybe that's what we need now. It's not to fight to go back to "normal". It's just about time to re-evaluate what we can do, and not do anything at all.
But if you still want to do something, why not check out some of the best finds of the week:
A good companion video to these thoughts is Wisecrack's The Office: How Nonsense Conquered the Workplace
Need a good laugh? This video got me - Explaining the Pandemic to My Past Self
We still don't know much about this virus at all. However, Matt Ridley has been sharing some early data on a hopeful correlation between the severity of Covid symptoms and Vitamin D levels. I figure it's a decent healthy option to try and get more sun anyway. What do you think?
QZ: The only metric of success that really matters is the one we ignore (Spoiler: it's other people.)
Until next time...