I was just wondering, if the Samajwadi Party (SP) supported government comes to power at the Centre this time around, many companies in India might have to write off another kind of loss from their books - loss on account of unused computers. After all, the party’s supremo Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav believes that - "The use of computers in offices is creating unemployment problems. Our party feels that if work can be done by a person using hands there is no need to deploy machines." Incidentally, the party is also against stock markets, use of English language, agricultural machines, and high corporate salaries!
The more things change, its turn out to be the same as it ever was. A new book about the history of work reveals that today’s workers have much in common with all those who have come before them over the past 12,000 years. People’s appetites drive them to produce more than they need, and they build political and economic institutions to help them do it. Then those institutions drive them to do more. NYT ( see the story in the link) also talks about Gluttons for punishment. We work so much because we want so much. That was anthropologist James Suzman’s conclusion after studying hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari Desert who satisfied their survival needs with roughly 15 hours of weekly labor. But modern, urban societies cause us to develop unlimited desires, which lead us to endless labour https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/podcasts/transcript-ezra-klein-interviews-james-suzman.html?cid=other-eml-onp-mip-mck&hlkid=38845d000b404e829c41b7395739f39a&...
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