this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2025
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[–] Iceblade02@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Money (and hence profit motive) is an analogue for being able to acquire and do things we need and want.

There's two kinds of miserable people in relation to profit motive - those who can't acquire enough money for the basic things they need to be happy, and those who took the analogue so far that they think money = happiness.

There is generally very little issue getting people to do things they want to do (things that feel meaningful) as long as they manage to cover their basic needs somehow, but there are definitely issues getting people to do things that they don't want to do - which is where profit motive shines.

There is much more garbage to collect than there are people who want to collect garbage, more deliveries to make than people who want to make them, more places to clean than people who want to clean them.

Luckily, there is someone who wants the garbage collected, someone who wants the toilets cleaned, someone who wants their trinkets delivered. Hence, we get people to pay for that, and thus we can use profit motive to incentivize someone to do those things, at least until we manage to automate it.

[–] TipsyMcGee@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Funnily enough, the less someone wants to do it the more of that “incentive” is purely stick and no carrot. Almost as if there’s something fishy about that whole notion 🤔

Unless… people actually prefer to be garbage men over the grueling work of an investment banker?

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If it weren't for the pay difference, I'd certainly prefer garbage man. A huge percentage of kids want that job before the economy crushes their dreams. It's cool!

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's overtaken deep sea commercial fishing for deadliest job in the US.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

That is true and I'd still rather be a garbage man than an investment banker. I'd die of depression and they wouldn't blame my job.

[–] stray@pawb.social 2 points 1 week ago

I would personally prefer the hands-on labor of garbage collection to a desk job, provided good working conditions and treatment like a human being are included.