Choose yourself
This concept is from the book Choose Yourself: Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream by James Altucher
Synopsis of the book “The world is changing. Markets have crashed. Jobs have disappeared. Industries have been disrupted and are being remade before our eyes. Everything we aspired to for “security,” everything we thought was “safe,” no longer is: College. Employment. Retirement. Government. It’s all crumbling down. In every part of society, the middlemen are being pushed out of the picture. No longer is someone coming to hire you, to invest in your company, to sign you, to pick you. It’s on you to make the most important decision in your life: Choose Yourself.
New tools and economic forces have emerged to make it possible for individuals to create art, make millions of dollars and change the world without “help.” More and more opportunities are rising out of the ashes of the broken system to generate real inward success (personal happiness and health) and outward success (fulfilling work and wealth).
This book will teach you to do just that. With dozens of case studies, interviews and examples–including the author, investor and entrepreneur James Altucher’s own heartbreaking and inspiring story–Choose Yourself illuminates your personal path to building a bright, new world out of the wreckage of the old.”
Look this is not a new concept. But having title of choose yourself makes this concept easier to express.
There was interesting quote Frederick Douglass former salve Frederick Douglass initially declared “now I am my own master”, upon taking a paying job and it was one of the happiness days of his life as he was now free and this quote is often seen everywhere. However, later in life he concluded to the contrary and this quote is not often see saying “experience demonstrates that there may be a slavery of wages only a little less galling and crushing in its effects than chattel slavery, and that this slavery of wages must go down with the other”. In other words, this was someone who was not an academic philosopher he actually was a slave he felt while having job was better than being slave it wasn’t much better. This is something to really think about. I mean really think about. This is real former slave saying jobs are not much better than slavery.
Presidential hope full Andrew Yang book The War on Normal People argues that “as technology continues to make many jobs obsolete, the government must take concrete steps to ensure economic stability for residents of the United States,” including the provision of a UBI.
according to Yang, 49% of American workers fall into one of the five most common jobs in the U.S. economy: administrative and clerical work, including call center workers; retail and cashiers; food service and food prep; truck drivers and transportation; and manufacturing workers. Jobs will can be automate. In book point out to skill jobs which can be automate such as accounting and financial jobs. Look even if is bad as the book just in my short life time I have seen internet business replace a lot of workers, I have lot of jobs be replace by Technologies lot of newspaper jobs and golden pages jobs. I have seen automatic checkout and ATM replace workers. Even online ordering system replace workers. I have seen wages fall real terms. Years ago people working in supermarket able to raise family on one income be replace by couple of young professional college education both have work making less money in real terms compare to supermarket worker from years ago. What is crazy there was lot people who said supermarket workers were not skill job therefore they should be pay living wage the events of the coronavirus shown supermarket workers were essential workers. Yet they were not given a living wage even though it was important job for Society. You might have hear of the concept of Bullshit Rutger Bregman in his book utopia for realists talks about this concept Bullshit and income inequality “The CEO who recklessly hawks mortgages and derivatives to lap up millions in bonuses currently contributes more to the GDP than a school packed with teachers or a factory full of car mechanics. We live in a world where the going rule seems to be that the more vital your occupation (cleaning, nursing, teaching), the lower you rate in the GDP.” This is crazy high frequency trading contributes nothing to society when compare to people like cleaners, nurses and teachers.
He also gives another example there was bankers strike in Ireland in 1970s After 6 months in which not much happened, they went back to work. The Irish had kept a self-made financial system going by the power of local pubs and shops who would cash cheque of people they knew were trustworthy, and the crazy thing is the economy didn’t retract had actually grown. Two years earlier garbagemen of New York went on strike after just 9 days a state of emergency was declared. This show are economy does not reward jobs that are really important to society.
David Graeber of Bullshit Jobs: A Theory “We have become a civilization based on work—not even “productive work” but work as an end and meaning in itself.” What he call this concept Bullshit jobs he also estimated that 60 percent of Jobs are bullshit in reality automation has replaced these 60% of jobs you may be thinking wait did people in 1960s predict 15 hours a week if these figures are true why hasn’t work week short to this. He said the reason for this are “A combination of political pressure from both right and left, a deeply held popular feeling that paid employment alone can make one a full moral person, and finally, a fear on the part of the upper classes, already noted by George Orwell in 1933, of what the laboring masses might get up to if they had too much leisure on their hands, has ensured that whatever the underlying reality, when it comes to official unemployment figures in wealthy countries, the needle should never jump too far from the range of 3 to 8 percent”. This “laboring masses might get up to if they had too much leisure on their hands” might so crazy but this was popular believe as far back as Roman Army who would make soldiers build and do manual labour in times were there was no war to keep occupied so they didn’t come up with any plans such as taking over area.
During to the coronavirus only essential workers were to work to contain the virus which was something like 20%-30% of workforce which were doctors, supermarket workers, bin man and nurses. This look like that picture of bullshit jobs is accurate.
You may be thinking what would I do with my life choose yourself “The goal of the future is full unemployment, so we can play. Arthur C. Clarke. Education is about making life worth living in tv show star trek is set in Post-scarcity economy. This means Post-scarcity economy “economic situation in which most goods can be produced in great abundance with minimal human labor needed, so that they become available to all very cheaply or even freely”
In tv show people work not because they have to because they want to. Your thinking would this happen in real life. Just thinking about childhood or raise family or unpaid hobby. You but hours of free labour into something that because you have to because you want to. Bill Gates a poster boy for capitalism when first start using computers, he wants computer in everyone house. He was passion about new technology he wasn’t think about making money. He had just found something he love that he though could prove humankind. Look at Nikola Tesla, da Vinci and Einstein. These people didn’t really care about money they were following passion and want to improve there world.
Albert Einstein said “[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion.”
My point is money if we have basic living money isn’t want really motivate us. As talk about their certain point of income it will no longer improve are happiness as we only need so much money. In fact grow for grow shake is insane cause many problems such as greed people be rewarding doing irrepresentable things such as treat workers like slaves as Silent Spring the book show environmental effects of capitalism has damage the planet the place we all life just because it makes a bit more profit but long term we destroy home term Silent Spring is about environment so damage that is no noise because there is no life. During the coronavirus quarantine air quality improve and huge drop in pollution rates.
I have seen myself jobs that were once safe jobs are in process of no lower existing or pay is really low people can barely survive. Something needs to be done I think UBI is good start for a number of reasons I have talk about and money can come from taxing companies for using machines like ATM that replace workers the same way we tax workers Of course, many other ways of paying for UBI. But for you I want choose yourself. Because I have seen so many people who have taken the so-called safe job who are miserable in the safe job. I have seen people work jobs were no matter how hard they work they are barely making living or sometimes there not even make living. If that you there are ways out and ways improve your life. Of course, some people love their job but many studies shown this is less than 30%. But have feeling why this low is most people even if they can’t express it in there gut, they know they have bullshit job. Choose yourself do thing that make you happy. if you have to take job look for easy job or very least job don’t hate.
I was watching this old news footage of man in Dublin. He very good pension but he was really bored because he was so institutionalised. In his words what point having all this money if I cant do anything with it. I have heard so many say they wouldn’t know what to do with time off because there so institutionalised don’t let happen to you, don’t become slave to your job and choose yourself. Money is only part life do not become slave to it.
