Between The Wars

Three videos today, two of them rather silly:

Nyarlathotep.

And:

Proper video along in a bit.  This is just a bit of fun with yesterday's video on scepticism.

And finally, the aforementioned "proper video":

Click to tweet:  http://clicktotweet.com/7TdUv . People who are not paid for their work may well be doing various kinds of work. It is easy to fall into a kind of meaningless, unmotivated unhealthy state without paid work because of difficulty in motivating oneself, and if one is vulnerable to that, absence of paid work is harmful, but i'm not sure i buy the idea that people literally don't work because it's more a question of finding meaning or having it valued than actually finding work. I don't think in terms of jobs at all in my own life, but in terms of getting paid for the work i already do and trying to get to do work which is more likely to be paid. If there is really such a thing as worklessness, it's a problem for the people who suffer from it, but it may be necessary for people not to work for money if the only paid work available to them is socially harmful in various ways, so they then ought to be compensated for the mental health hazard duty forces them to risk, i.e. unemployment.

Then there's the question of useful, useless and harmful work. I would welcome the opportunity to work in the sewers in particular because that work is, along with probably farming, the most important paid work it's possible to do in this kind of society. It saves more lives than all of the NHS and all emergency services put together, probably several times as many in fact. The same applies to some extent to disposing safely of waste. That's why i value it so badly. However, there's also a problem with skilled work that is useful because then charging for that work means you are withholding the duty, for instance, of saving someone's life for money - in other words, you won't lift a finger to save a life unless you get paid. To me, that seems very wrong. Therefore, and i've said this before to you Tony, interchangeable creative work such as music, visual arts and creative writing are in a sense more honourable because there can't be another Shakespeare, but Shakespeare could've been someone else writing a different set of equally good plays, or maybe no Beatles but another band which was different but just as good. Therefore, that kind of work is better because depriving people of it won't kill them and someone else will be able to do it. For that reason, i would prefer to be "useless". That situation is complicated by the fact that "useful" work is also creative to some degree.

Regarding menial work, something i've suggested elsewhere is that if i believed and trusted in the State more, there could be a couple of years of something like National Service, but oriented towards waste management, sewage and other essential but unpopular jobs. At the end of that period, one could be offered a permanent job in the relevant industry - guaranteed employment if you so chose - or move on to something else.

There's also the question of unpaid work, e.g. childcare and housework, which contributes to the economy and is socially useful.

Oh, and another thing is that work which is not fulfilling should in various ways be abolished, through automation or simply by nobody doing anything which makes that kind of work necessary. An example of the latter, though it may not be that unfulfilling, would be the "glue" of solicitors who decide which companies in the transport industry are responsible for poor service such as late trains or missed connections. One nationalised rail industry would abolish the need for such jobs at a stroke. However, my distrust for the state means i would have to think of how to manage that in different ways.

My view of work is influenced by my residence in the outer darkness, so there may in fact be a stronger link between these videos than is at first apparent.  I'm not happy that the sound cut out at the end of 'Existential Scepticism'.  Also, 'XAH985H' is now the most recent video, which is annoying because it's knocked 'Work vs. Jobs' off the top.  I assumed that the last video to finish uploading was the most recent, but it's the last video to start.

There is an element of procrastination here.  I am keen on making the pocket universes and Yates-Leason videos but am intimidated by the prospect of animation.  Tomorrow will of course bring another chemistry one, so that's still got to happen.  I've decided to do enthalpy.