I absolutely love love love books that changed your life lists. Similarly, I’ve long believed that I’ve probably never even heard my favorite band because of the mass of music that we all miss for any number of reasons. There are tons of bands I’d love that will never even be recorded. There are zillions of amazing ideas floating around that will never make it into books. This is one that blew my mind years ago.
We believe that work is evil and we stand as a force against employment and the severe damage it afflicts. -AFWFA Manifesto
Free to download and distribute
Fortunately, we now have the internet. Without it I would never have discovered a set of ideas that has influenced my life to the point of being a continuous thread relating to nearly every important aspect of my lifestyle. I don’t remember how I discovered it, though I know it was via the internet. I don’t know Greg Lundgren. He has no idea that I’ve been stalking the tiny AWFWA corner of his website for years. Apparently I’m the one guy in Alaska who really likes what [they're] doing. Without further delay, allow me to happily introduce you to his idea that’s influenced me greatly: Artists for a Work Free America.
Mr. Lundgren refers to the concept as something of a semi-serious DaDa movement that may or may not be realistic at some point now or in the future or never. It started out with a couple of thought provoking performance pieces that were constructed as a hoax. And while the attention they drew haven’t convinced the planet do stop working and produce art, something about the ideas resonate.
Here’s the general idea in my own paraphrased nutshell: Humans are not made for work. Machines are much better suited for work. Because these things are ultimately truisms relating to the fundamental questions of human existence, humans should act on them by building a robot workforce to replace all human labor then focus solely on being human.
AFWFA strongly supports the replacement of the human workforce with one that is automated and computerized, and encourages both the public and private sectors to advance toward this very realistic goal. Using existing computer and robotic technologies, much of today’s work force could be displaced, thus freeing humans from the economic and emotional slavery we now endure. From the AWFA Manifesto by Greg Lundgren
Please don’t turn the comments into a cautionary tale evidenced by Cylons gone wild and jump down the rabbit hole. Question the fundamental assumptions of what work means and what it means to be human. I have never had any respect for the idea that one’s value and integrity is directly related to how hard they work. I am very thankful that someone else is doing the work, but ultimately believe the phase work ethic is a lie that has duped a lot of people into doing things nobody else wants to do. Where did this idea come from? It seems to be brought up in relation to Jesus or Protestantism or whatever from time to time, but I don’t think it’s limited to that. There seems to be a general societal agreement that hard work is honorable. Blue collar is a compliment. White collar is pejorative.
Available for free download and distribution from original site
I don’t want a collar. I don’t care what color it is. I’d say that collars are for animals, but there’s a great story by the AFWFA illustrating that there is no such thing as a workhorse that succinctly demonstrates why humans aren’t meant for work either. Of the few articles on the site, it’s definitely one of my favorites€¦
You and all of your machine friends can have all of these jobs. That is alright. I just wanted you to know that I am not mad at you, I am not afraid of you, and I am glad you are here to work so I may be free. A drop of oil hit the floor. Joe nodded his head to the tractor and walked on. From Horsepower by Greg Lundgren
Okay, I’ve been trying to grab a couple of my favorite quotes to throw in here and there. I have to concede defeat and defer to the source when I end up highlighting entire articles before copy-pasting them. I’ll try a different approach. Here are my 3 favorite AWFA articles. I recommend everything on the site, but highly suggest dedicating a few minutes to at least these three€¦ Then spending the rest of your life thinking about them.
I’m done sounding like a sycophant for the moment so I’ll try to come up with one thing about the site that I don’t agree with 100%. I guess it’s the idea that work should primarily be replaced with creating art. I’m a fan of creating art, but my curiosity is generally much more fully quenched with exploration for exploration’s sake than painting. In fact, I think I’ll go do a little now.
What’s on your books that changed my life list? What life changing ideas are out there you’ve found that are slipping through the cracks? Which of your ideas do you think are great but hold back because you think they might sound crazy to others?
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NomadicNeil
2 months ago
Hey Andrew,
I'm looking forward to reading up about AFWFA. I've seen those pictures before but I didn't know who made them.
When asking were this 'honour in hard work' idea comes from it's useful to think who stands to benefit. Now before I continue let me say that I don't believe in some world wide conspiracy. It's the result of memes that are controlling many of us.
Questions:
So who stands to benefit if most people think it's honourable to work themselves to death?
Who stands to benefit if people who question authority are ridiculed?
Who stands to benefit if intellectual curiosity makes you a nerd, and nerds are 'unsexy'?
Who stands to benefit in promoting the idea that you should get a big mortgage and lots of credit card debt to buy worthless stuff in effect voluntarily entering indebted slavery?
Some people are benefitting from these ideas / memes.
The state bureacracy is, your bank manager is, the people that sell you worthless plastic crap are.
Regarding books that changed my life, I'm not sure if a book ever truly had such a massive life changing impact on me. It's more that I've read books that have highlighted, confirmed or crystalised things that I was already thinking about. I think the mileu that I've grown up in and the collection of experiences, books I've read, films I've watched has schooled me in 21st century living.
Take for example my interest in memetics, effect of language on how we experience reality etc. Some people read a book about this subject and their mind is blow, how the see the world changes forever. Where as I was raised bi-lingually, I have first hand experience of how different language make you think differently. And one of my favourite books as a kid was the Sci-Fi novel Dune. In it there are characters who are very good at manipulating others by their expert use of language. The idea that reality is constrcuted in our minds it a strong theme in the novel. Guess what? The writer Frank Herber studied the work of Korzybski who wrote extensively on how our reality is constructed by language. (He is one of the major influences on NLP as well).
Anyway, a couple books that didn't really change my life, but told me what I'd been thinking:
Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstader
Lucifer Principle and A Global Brain by Howard Bloom
An Introduction to NLP by Joseph O'Connor
The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson
Ideas of mine that that I don't share with many people:
Mass unemployment is one of the greatest human achievements ever. Think about it, we've reached a stage in human development where millions of people don't have to do anything and are free to do anything (whether this is ecologically sustainable is another question).
Evolutionary forces (sexual selection etc) are guiding (human) life on every single scale. More than most mainstream scientists know (or acknowledge). This knowledge can be used (is being used). So much of human culture is just arbitrary and supefluous, if everyone realised just how much, then society as we know it would fall apart. But maybe something else would replace it.
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Andrew
2 months ago
I'm with you on the follow the money perspective. I touched on it with the bits about religion originally, but that power structure has largely co-opted and evolved into those you mentioned.
That's a great point about phenomenal books having more of a validation of thoughts and clarification of ideas that haven't completely coalesced in our minds. Not in a bad way, but I think that process will always be more powerful because of our human tendencies to want to be right. So.. when we discover a clear framework for what we're already thinking, it resonates.
As far as mass unemployment.. I do wonder if scarcity driven unemployment is as beneficial (to the individual involved) as voluntary unemployment for a purpose. If people still want jobs, I can see them flailing around wishing they had one and/or working toward getting one rather than taking advantage of the situation and leveraging it to something more sustainable. As with everything else… mileage will vary by individual.
Thanks for the list of books. I love hearing what has blown other people's minds.
Sean Stargazer
2 months ago
This is one hilarious and mind-bending post.
To think I found you by following a link that led to the Middle Finger Project!
I'll be checking out the AFWFA site now.
My recent post Sean Stargazer’s N.O.W List
Andrew
2 months ago
Thanks Sean… and welcome.
The 'About' page on your blog is great. We should all have a "Declaration of Magnificency".