Productive for What?

What is the point of life? Is it to make stuff? Or is it to take difficult actions, think rich thoughts, weigh subtle decisions? Is it having a pile of stuff, or does the stuff just support our quest for interesting action?*

We’ve become very good at asking: How can we make people more productive?

Perhaps we should occasionally ask: Productive for what?

If all that efficiency simply creates more work, more stuff (cool watches, fast cars, apartments etc) and less time to play, something has gone rather badly wrong.

Play deserves a place alongside the important work of life, because it may even be one of the reasons we do the work at all.

A society with no time to play may be productive.

I’m not sure it’s even successful.

*The article that the quote is from and inspired this post is here: https://archive.is/WuJHU