覺得自己的工作毫無意義？越來越多人這麼想

A growing number of people think their job is useless. Time to rethink the meaning of work
越來越多的人認爲自己的工作毫無用途，是時候重新思考工作的意義了

A great deal has been written in recent years about the perils of automation. With predicted mass unemployment, declining wages, and increasing inequality, clearly we should all be afraid.
近年來，自動化所帶來的風險不斷被提及。顯然，我們應該爲此感到恐懼，因爲人們預言，自動化會造成大規模失業，減少工資，以及加劇不平等現象。

By now it’s no longer just the Silicon Valley trend watchers and technoprophets who are apprehensive. In a study that has already racked up several hundred citations, scholars at Oxford University have estimated that no less than 47% of all American jobs and 54% of those in Europe are at a high risk of being usurped by machines.
如今，觀察員和科技預言家們已經不再只憂心於硅谷的趨勢了。一項研究已經取得了上百個例證，牛津的學者們估計至少有47%的美國崗位和54%的歐洲崗位會被機器取代。

I admit, we’ve heard it all before. Employees have been worrying about the rising tide of automation for 200 years now, and for 200 years employers have been assuring them that new jobs will naturally materialize to take their place. After all, if you look at the year 1800, some 74% of all Americans were farmers, whereas by 1900 this figure was down to 31%, and by 2000 to a mere 3%. Yet this hasn’t led to mass unemployment. In 1930, the famous economist John Maynard Keynes was predicting that we’d all be working just 15-hour weeks by the year 2030. Yet, since the 1980s, work has only been taking up more of our time, bringing waves of burnouts and stress in its wake.
我承認，以上這些消息我們早已見怪不怪了。從200年以前，僱員們就開始擔心不斷髮展的自動化，僱主們也不斷說服自己會有新的工作應運而生，取代他們的位置。讓我們回顧一下，1800年，那時美國的農民大約佔總人口的74%，而到了1900年這一比率降到了31%，到了2000年農民只佔全美總人口的3%。然而農民的減少並沒有造成大規模失業。1930年，著名經濟學家約翰·凱恩斯曾預言：到2030年我們一週只需工作15小時，而自從20世紀80年代開始，工作在我們生活中所佔的比重只增不減，還帶來了過度疲勞和壓力過大等一系列問題。

Meanwhile, the crux of the issue isn’t even being discussed. The real question we should be asking ourselves is: what actually constitutes “work” in this day and age?
但同時，我們甚至沒有討論到問題的核心。我們需要捫心自問的真正問題是：如今，是什麼驅動着我們繼續“工作”？

What is “work” anyway?
到底什麼是“工作”？

In a 2013 survey of 12,000 professionals by the Harvard Business Review, half said they felt their job had no “meaning and significance,” and an equal number were unable to relate to their company’s mission, while another poll among 230,000 employees in 142 countries showed that only 13% of workers actually like their job. A recent poll among Brits revealed that as many as 37% think they have a job that is utterly useless.
2013年，《哈佛商業評論》雜誌對12000名專業人員進行了調查，感覺自己的工作“既無意義也不重要”的人約佔50%，剩下的50%則不能將自己的工作和他們公司的使命聯繫起來。而在另一項調查中，來自142個國家的23萬的人中只有13%的人真正熱愛自己的工作。最近一項對於英國人的民意調查顯示，37%的人認爲自己的工作是毫無用處的。

So, will there still be enough jobs for everyone a few decades from now? Anybody who fears mass unemployment underestimates capitalism’s extraordinary ability to generate new bullshit jobs. If we want to really reap the rewards of the huge technological advances made in recent decades (and of the advancing robots), then we need to radically rethink our definition of “work.”
幾十年後，世界上是否還有足夠的工作？那些擔心會出現大規模失業現象的人低估了資本主義創造新工作的卓越能力。如果在近幾十年，我們想從科技的巨大進步中撈取好處，就必須主動地重新思考“工作”的真正含義。

The paradox of progress
進步的悖論

It starts with an age-old question: what is the meaning of life? Most people would say the meaning of life is to make the world a little more beautiful, or nicer, or more interesting. But how? These days, our main answer to that is: through work.
一切都要歸爲一個古老的問題：生命的意義是什麼？大部分人會回答說生命的意義在於使生活變得更美，或更好，或更加有趣。但是，如何實現呢？如今，大部分人會回答說：“通過工作。”
That’s one of the biggest taboos of our times. Our whole system of finding meaning could dissolve like a puff of smoke.
那是我們這個時代最大特徵之一，我們尋找意義的理論體系可能會如煙般散去。

The irony is that technological progress is only exacerbating this crisis. Historically, society has been able to afford more bullshit jobs precisely because our robots kept getting better. As our farms and factories grew more efficient, they accounted for a shrinking share of our economy. And the more productive agriculture and manufacturing became, the fewer people they employed. Call it the paradox of progress: the richer we become, the more room we have to waste our time. It’s like Brad Pitt says in Fight Club: too often, we’re “working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.”
諷刺的是，科技進步正在加劇這個危機。過去，社會之所以能夠提供更多的工作正是由於我們的機器人越來越先進。隨着農場和工廠變得越來越有效率，它們在經濟中的所佔的比重也隨之減少。農業和製造業效率越高，它們所需要的人力就越少。這就是進步的悖論：我們越是富有，可供揮霍的時間就越多。正如布拉德·皮特在《搏擊俱樂部》中所說，我們經常“幹着自己不喜歡的工作來買自己壓根不需要的東西。”

I believe in a future where the value of your work is not determined by the size of your paycheck, but by the amount of happiness you spread and the amount of meaning you give. I believe in a future where the point of education is not to prepare you for another useless job, but for a life well lived. I believe in a future where “jobs are for robots and life is for people.”
我相信，一定會有那麼一天，我們工作價值的大小不再取決於薪資的高低，而是取決於你散播了多少快樂，給世界帶來了多少意義。到那時候，教育的目的不再是給你一份毫無用途的工作，而是爲了讓你過上更好的生活。有那麼一天，我們會實現“工作是屬於機器人的，而生活纔是屬於全人類的”這一理念。

And if basic income sounds Utopian to you, then I’d like to remind you that every milestone of civilization – from the end of slavery to democracy to equal rights for men and women – was once a Utopian fantasy too. Or, as Oscar Wilde wrote long ago: “Progress is the realization of Utopias.”
如果最基本的工資對你來說是一個空想，我可以提醒你：人類文明進程中的每一個里程碑——從廢除奴隸制到實現男女平等——曾經也都是如空想一般的存在。或許，正如奧斯卡·王爾德所說：“進步就是將一個個不切實際的夢想實現的過程。”