I've been struggling to stay focused lately at work, my mind wandering to how I'd like to spend my days if all my needs and my top wants were able to be meet without having to work, and I realized that after a few months or a even a few years of living just for myself, I would start to feel bad that I'm not giving back to my community/helping make society a little better/nicer.
Digging a bit deeper, I realize (not for the first time) that along with 40 hours of work a week being way too much, after 5 years of doing the same thing, I'm just so god damn bored of the work I do on a daily basis.
That got me thinking how could we set up a society that doesn't work people to death but also keeps people pitching in on the necessary and/or enjoyable labor to keep society running without getting bored to tears.
So maybe one way is to incorporate a generous UBI, and also give people the option to work 10-15 hr a week (which would give you addition genrous hourly pay from the UBI fund) doing things for the community. But you also have the opportunity to switch up what you're doing. So maybe on Monday, I'm doing landscaping for the city. Tuesday I'm baking bread at the local bakery. Wednesday I'm helping collect garbage. Or, you could be a farmer one season on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and teach art the next season.
To me, this would give people a chance to contribute to their society, earn extra money on top of UBI (which would be enough to cover the basics), and also allow us to explore different areas and learn new things.
It wouldn't be the only model – highly technical fields wouldn't really be able to have someone just jump in for a season (unless they have the prior background – which I would also propose free college and encourage anyone who wants to learn to attend). However, for those passion careers, no problem if that's what the person wants to put their energy into (we can just try and make so they don't have to work so many hours, too). But for those of us who enjoy a bit of change, I think the idea of having the option to pop into new jobs that benefit their community and know we'll be properly compensated and only need to devote 10-15 hrs a week to it could be a moral booster.
Just a thought on ways antiwork could he a reality. How many of you would be down for that type of society?