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Is work still necessary?
I think first, we need to not think of work and trading labor for money as one and the same. Even things like taking care of your children is labor, even though you don't get paid for it. You're still making effort to be productive.
Working for money is becoming less and less necessary as automation is taking over. The total amount of labor required to keep our standard of living is decreasing, but the total amount of labor produced is not. This is because the benefit all goes to the rich few. Most of us most of the time are working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. No, most of work is not necessary. [1][2] I can think of many examples where struggle was actually detrimental to health, and has led to suicides or murders of others.
Yes! All this is true, and it is precisely the reason why other life struggles should precede these existential ones. Smaller sufferings prepare us for the bigger ones, and they help us put things into perspective. If we immediately get exposed to big problems without any prior experience with smaller ones, we get stuck.
But isn't the struggle of mind the most difficult one? Isn't it true that if you confront thoughts like 'life is worthless', or 'what is the point' that that's the biggest struggle of all? Are you not going to be stronger by surviving that mind struggle? Why do you need additional struggles when everyone sooner or later faces these existential thoughts? When you look at nature there's struggle for survival everywhere, from amazon smaller plants thriving to reach the sunlight in the jungle, to animals all around searching for food, hiding from predators, building their nests and homes and migrating year round.
Struggle makes you appreciate life more. If you never have to fight for what you have then you never really understand or appreciate what you have, "things" have less value, and you value your life less. That's not good for the mind. Why would a struggle be beneficial for health? Work is necessary for health and psychological reasons. When people have nothing to do they go crazy. Not only that, but either purposeful work or work due to struggle are beneficial even more than just any work. Why is work necessary? Many people can live very modestly with very little or no work at all. In the future due to automation and technology advances people will live even luxuriously with little or no work at all. While it used to be necessary for survival, it is no more so. All work and no play makes a man dull. Homo faber. Work makes and defines the man. Work is Necessary, Struggle is Optional. Is work still necessary? Overprotective parents are huge impediment to child's happiness.
