A specter is haunting the world - the specter of leisure. All the
great powers have conspired against it: Popes and presidents, bankers
and unionists, hamburger chains and environmentalists. But, mighty as
they are, they will soon fail. Machines may exist solely to produce,
but humans are awakening from a dark eon of drudgery to the dawning
realization that there is more to life than work.
We, the overworked, the stressed-out, the weary, the jet-lagged,
declare that the Industrial Revolution is over - and we have won!
It is time to declare the peace dividend.
In the age of thinking machines, leisure is no longer a privilege -
it is a fundamental human right.
For thousands of generations, work - dirty, backbreaking, crippling
work - has controlled our existence. Apologists for the status quo
rationalize that toil is humanity's natural fate and burden. But lo,
fellow workers who gather food, erect elaborate shelters, and build
great civilizations - labor is not our natural destiny. Inactivity is
not a sin!
When not working meant not eating, when the tribe's survival was at
stake - those were the times for toil. The genesis of intelligent
machines should have freed us to enjoy life, but in our fear of
obsolescence we haven't heeded nature's imperative for
leisure. Instead, we stagger on, punching buttons, making copies,
renting our brains for the fool's gold of ever-greater consumption. Is
this our birthright - we, the mighty creators of robot factories,
electronic brains, and the virtual civilizations of our imagination?
Do not lions lounge? Do not gulls drift effortlessly on the winds?
Do not dolphins play endlessly in the oceans? Are we less deserving
than our fellow creatures to partake of the joys of life and the
wonders of the planet and human society?
We do not seek to overthrow the system but, rather, to underthrow
it.
We do not advocate resistance; we counsel surrender - surrender to
your own intuitive sense of what your body and soul need; to your
innate right to sloth. We call not for sacrifice, but for indulgence
- indulgence of our need for greater fulfillment through play and
contemplation.
Leisure is not a promise that makes us press our noses to the
grindstone; it is a basic human right. To work for the vague hope of a
short respite is criminal extortion. We will achieve the leisure we
deserve only when we change our priorities and live the revolution of
the deed. Our debt of leisure constantly mounts, but do we ask for our
due? Do we realize what we're owed?
Take a nap! Carpe otium! You've earned it.
Leisure is the new currency and your credit has no
limit. Relaxation, in its purest form, is an essential component of
human creativity. It is the yin to society's infoglut yang.
Wake to the dawning of the age of leisure! Machines have made the
need to work obsolete. To continue on is folly. Grab a chair, sit
back, and claim what is rightfully yours. Leisure. There is no
substitute.
You have nothing to lose but your slavery to the opiate of busyness
- and the world of leisure to gain!
