I agree with Volunteer...erm...I mean Volunbeer.
We’ve seen what purposeless does to people. I was almost beaten for being white when I was a teenager by a group of men that apparently stay in the welfare office seating area for hours at a time. In marveling in semi shock about how close I came to being mauled for no reason - I came to see a key reason why the welfare state is racist. We know that we need more than money to pay for food and shelter to live. Rich people ‘labor’ at charities or churches to give their lives meaning. We need to feel like we contribute. Implying that blacks, hispanics (or whites, for that matter) lack this basic need to contribute and can therefore be tended like gerbils in a cage empty of everything except food and water. Humans need purpose - it erodes our self-esteem to live partially and allow a tide to carry us onward. We need to paddle, sometimes we must paddle too hard but it ‘gets us’ somewhere. We need progress in our lives - that’s why we hate ‘dead ends’. And yes, according to my faith, I am to work at my job as if I were working for the Lord.
That said - i think that even if people don’t drop off the grid, I think they will ratchet down their productivity because I saw it first hand in the Soviet Union. If everyone in a factory gets paid the same, the over-achievers top over achieving.
Good post.