In my last newsletter, commemorating Labor Day, I spoke of the cult of overwork in the United States, contrasting it with the failed prophecy in the 1950’s and 1960’s of a coming Age of Leisure. That prophecy failed in part because it did not take into account the “capitalist work ethic,” the idea that if you delay gratification indefinitely and work hard and endless hours, you will be rewarded with success, and that success will signify your membership in an elite superior to the common masses—who also work long, hard hours, but only because they are your employees and you force them to do so, despite their lack of ambition and natural laziness. In Nancy Kress’s brilliant science fiction novella “Beggars in Spain” (later expanded to novel length), the wealthy elite can afford a treatment for their offspring that will eliminate the need to sleep, thus freeing up a third of every twenty-four hour cycle for extra enrichment and accomplishment. We admire Thomas Edison because somebody said that he only slept four hours a night. What more could he have achieved if he hadn’t had to sleep at all?
September 10, 2021
September 10, 2021
September 10, 2021
In my last newsletter, commemorating Labor Day, I spoke of the cult of overwork in the United States, contrasting it with the failed prophecy in the 1950’s and 1960’s of a coming Age of Leisure. That prophecy failed in part because it did not take into account the “capitalist work ethic,” the idea that if you delay gratification indefinitely and work hard and endless hours, you will be rewarded with success, and that success will signify your membership in an elite superior to the common masses—who also work long, hard hours, but only because they are your employees and you force them to do so, despite their lack of ambition and natural laziness. In Nancy Kress’s brilliant science fiction novella “Beggars in Spain” (later expanded to novel length), the wealthy elite can afford a treatment for their offspring that will eliminate the need to sleep, thus freeing up a third of every twenty-four hour cycle for extra enrichment and accomplishment. We admire Thomas Edison because somebody said that he only slept four hours a night. What more could he have achieved if he hadn’t had to sleep at all?