Question: Wikipedia defines labor: “Work or labour is intentional activity people perform to support themselves, others, or the needs and wants of a wider community. Alternatively, work can be viewed as the human activity that contributes (along with other factors of production) towards the goods and services within an economy.^“

Sigmund Freud said “Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness.” According to Marx, “Labour is, in the first place, a process in which both man and Nature participate, and in which man of his own accord starts, regulates, and controls the material re-actions between himself and Nature. He opposes himself to Nature as one of her own forces, setting in motion arms and legs, head and hands, the natural forces of his body, in order to appropriate Nature’s productions in a form adapted to his own wants.”

How would you define work?

Answer: It depends on what era we are talking about. But, in general, labor is a necessary condition for existence. Nature itself confirms this. If we do not need something, we are not drawn to it. Man engages in something that interests him. Therefore, labor is a necessity that forces a person to produce those products that he needs. But if there is no need for them, then he will happily not waste time on their production.

Question: If we consider this issue from the point of view of history, in the beginning labor was necessary simply to survive. Then people began to exploit each other’s labor and earn money. And then the essence of work changed. People themselves started to ask to work.

Today we live in a period when a person fully associates himself with work. Even more, his status is determined by where he works. How will the essence of work change in the future?

Answer: I think things are moving toward the fact that we can provide everything we need with very little effort and in a short time. We will not produce beyond what is necessary because eventually we will realize that this is killing us: personally, our society, and the planet on which we live.

Therefore, we need to limit producing surplus and produce only what is necessary, and that the necessary will be sufficient for us.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 6/4/20

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