BROKEN PROMISES This has been going on for centuries

by Battra on Tuesday July 11, 2000 @06:19AM

I remember reading in an anthropology text once that LEISURE TIME IS INVERSELY PROPORTIONAL TO TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT. THE CULTURES WITH THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF LEISURE TIME WERE HUNTER-GATHERERS AND THAT IT ALL PRETTY MUCH WENT DOWNHILL FROM THERE.

The prototypical tribe would try to kill some big game animal and, when they were finally successful, would pretty much just camp out next to the carcass for as long as it lasted. If you are talking about a woolly mammoth, it could have gone on for a while.

Where is there a reasonable compromise? I like leisure time, but I'm also fond of indoor plumbing and electricity. Technology gives us the means to work more (think electric lighting) so we do work more. Back on the farm 150 years ago, you worked awfully hard during the day when the weather was good, but after the sun went down you had 12 hours of enforced downtime; even more during the winter.

We are also to some extent victims of our own prosperity. Incomes for tech workers have risen to the point where we can think about owning homes, cars, and other goodies. Many of us make long commutes in addition to working long hours.

I guess the real question is: on balance, are we better or worse off than we would have been without the technology?