Status Quo
Our current system (the general North American and European system), in which go to an office and in return are provided shelter (and food).
Perhaps the greatest issue of this system is that having no substantial work for the majority of its people to do, rather than allow them freedom or to pursue meaningful ventures, it makes them dig holes and fill them back in, and it does this for the majority of their lives. While there is some value in the discipline this provides, it can create resentment and/or rigidity that more than offsets its value. It is almost certainly better to have such a system (for the habits of perseverance, cooperation, and hardiness that it helps foster) than anarchy and apathy, but it does not therefore follow that the system cannot or should not be changed, nor that other systems would inevitably decay to anarchy and apathy. It is worth noting the value of this current system (and the value it has provided historically), and ensuring that any future system only improves upon it.
Advantages
- Since the end of World War II, this system has generally provided peace, prosperity, stability to those who serve under it, a rather remarkable achievement if we are to believe history.
- Is an established and known system that is widely adopted and that has shown long term resiliency.
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Disadvantages
- The system is struggling to cope with automation and globalization. The system is premised on the idea that each person provides value to the system in order to receive value from the system, but in an automated and globalized world, it is much harder for individuals to provide meaningful value (perhaps only obedience at this point), which in turn tends to corrupt the system.
- Individuals that do not or can not support the system are excluded, and thus the system continually decreases and decays.
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