theblacksquid's random thoughts

Writers will write.

“I have to admit that it makes me feel like I don't want to write anymore.”

That was something I remember telling one of my friends after they said that they don't read what I write. Or can't. Or was it “can't/don't read all that you wrote”? The exact flow of the conversation escapes me. It's been a few days since the actual exchange.

But the direct, face-to-face admission of disinterest in your work by someone whose opinions you trust stings. That's most of what I remember, if I'm being honest. It's the emotion. How something made you feel. It's that part you remember clearly.

So why did I just post two articles over the past three days?

Too much caffeine in my bloodstream, for one.

And the fact that I've already tied up my identity with what I do. As bad of an idea as that is.

Which brings to mind a brief topic that was brought up in a reading group discussion: What if the day comes that productivity becomes divorced from labor? What if people, by automation, can just exist???

I feel the answer lies in who gets to own the automated machinery. And if you've been paying attention to what kind of things I write, (funny mentioning that, given the context) you'd already have a rough idea of who I'd want to be in charge.

However, I'm more interested in knowing what would life be like. How would people go about their daily lives? Would they be occupied by indulging themselves in various luxuries and exotic experiences? COMMUNAL ORGIES!!! Would an explosion of different, obscure forms of hobbies occur? I feel that in some form or another, certain industries and trades would not be automated. Not because they would inherently require the human touch, no. But most likely because, like me, people need something to do to help realize themselves. And I'm not talking about people taking up artisanal mason-jar decorating! I'm talking about people doing actual jobs because they feel like that's what they're supposed to do. That doing it gives their lives meaning. That doing it helps them make their lives meaningful.

I'm imagining in a not-so-near dystopian future where people would subsist on a Universal Basic Income of some kind. Life would become unbearably dull. Your Universal Income only allows you to survive at a bare minimum, preventing the accumulation of wealth and property. This allows the megacorporations to buy up all the property and further secure their hegemony. The only option in this gray, barely-living life is to get so high off your brains that you become desensitized to it. Or begin a revolt to seize the means of production!

Or even better: Begin a revolt to seize the means of production while being extremely high on drugs!!!

And I'm willing to bet that it would be because doing stuff, farming, construction, all the way to medicine and writing, are all things that humans are just naturally inclined to do, with or without pay. With or without the approval of large States and multinational corporations. It's just an expression of our shared nature.

So regardless of whether or not anyone reads what I write, I'm still gonna write. Because that's just what I do.