A Cynical History of Work

In the past, the reward for a hard day's work was a basket full of basic needs: shelter, food, clothing, protection, stable population and well nurtured kids. As we became more proficient animals we could fill the basket in just a few hours. Suddenly we had free time. We started pinging art, inventing origin stories, and dividing people as to their skills. We made rules. We invented tools. Tools could be traded for food and clothing. Tools could be accumulated. With more and better tools we became even more proficient. We discovered how to produce and capture supplies of food beyond immediate needs. In a few hours, we could gather several days supply of food. These foods, like grain and dried fish, were transportable. They were non-perishable. Like tools they could be stored and accumulated. Stored treasuries full of food and tools could be bartered for things made by others. Agriculture, manufacturing, fishing and animal husbandry proliferated. Small communities attracted artisans who made goods to trade with farmers, hunters and herders. A few amassed more than others. They became big men, then chiefs and kings. Meanwhile, farmers began producing far too much food, more than could be stored or distributed. There was no longer a need for so many farmers. Kings and barons confiscated the fields and forests. They drew circles around people, within the circle you paid tribute and followed the rules of the chief. These circles became states, then nations. One circle ran into another, states shared borders. Soon there was nowhere for a person to run should they chose not to follow the rules of the state. For just outside their circle was another scribed arc, an alien state. States conscripted armies to protect themselves from other circles. Circles allied with each other for protection. People within each circle evolved their own culture: values, mores, rules, cuisine. Dispossessed farmers moved to villages, villages swelled to towns and towns became cities. City folks could not grow or produce their basic needs. They took jobs to make tools, clothing and things. For this they were paid money. Money was useful to city dwellers who made nothing to trade. They traded money for goods. The money was backed by the wealth of the king. In the end, people began to work for and accumulate money. They began to perform tasks they didn't enjoy, to buy things they didn't need, made by people they didn't know.