That doesn’t mean we won’t create new thinking jobs. And is this just about jobs? I do plenty of thinking outside of work (dangerous, I know).
cutting edge technology has created the "Indy thinking outside of work" artificial intelligence: https://giphy.com/gifs/dippy-bird-drinking-3o85xlsBpogojB4FiM has science gone too far? or has science not gone far enough?
I’m not saying the output is productive but there’s obviously plenty of time spent on something resembling thought there.
Let's suppose this is true: were women, who had traditional "barefoot and pregnant" roles, and not physical activity roles, more depressed in the past?
You’d have to come from a pretty well off family to have that in the past. Everyday things we never even think about were all physical drudgery in the past. Hauling water, having to kindle and work a fire for cooking, manually washing laundry by hand, working a small garden, and all of this while having to tend to small children. It’s truly amazing how far we’ve come in 200 to 300 years and all of the wealth that we’ve built in such a short time.
No, you wouldn't. You just have to associate technology of the past with the past. For example: Were those that had a plow and horse more depressed than those that did their field by hand? A plow and a horse is a technology of that period. What about wash boards vs streams? Pumps vs wells? Were those people more depressed? This idea, to me, that our society is mentally unwell due to lack of physical exercise based on physical exercise helping with mental health is the equivalent of saying a glass of wine is healthy, so we should be drunk all the time.
I’m not wanting the days of ole but I do think it is an aspect. I know I feel like shit if I’m not active for a few days.
I think maybe this article hints at why people are depressed: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/age-discovery/201801/living-in-liquid-modernity
Ha!...well, the dude has written a lot of books on liquid modernity (which is such a much better description of how people experience the 21st century world than "post-modernity") with whole chapters dedicated to depression. That article is kind of an overview on liquid modernity and its effects in general, though it does touch on the depression issue w/o fully exploring the link. I personally think that when you combine all of our choices and need to be adaptable (think push for innovation, life long learning, plethora of ways we can choose to spend time) in a constantly changing world it does create a lot of uncertainty and second guessing. (I teach business and alertness and adaptability are two of the main things we emphasize to students) Econ talks about optimization and the ability to choose among more and more alternatives as a key to well-being. Undergrad me bought it hook, line, and sinker . But, perhaps, even thinking about your life as a struggle to optimize your own happiness is a big part of the problem. An inward focus on self-fulfillment in a world with a myriad of options creates uncertainty, doubt. And you can easily go online and find counter-arguments or other alternatives to the path you have chosen. And we often aren't as satisfied as we think we should be or the fun time ends and, while we enjoyed it, we are now back to trying how to up the thrill/enjoyment next time around. This is different than the world our grandparents lived in. People used to think more in terms of duty and ordering their lives around something bigger than themselves (perhaps religion, perhaps country, perhaps family, perhaps even a bowling league), and were more stable (and more social). But we are now a country that ascribes to individualism and autonomy above all else. People move, change jobs, change significant others more than ever in a quest to maximize satisfaction...but perhaps that, counter-intuitively, is unhelpful.
No. More like if you pursue happiness (as an end goal) there's a good chance you won't actually be happy. People who live for something other than material gain/psychological satisfaction are paradoxically the ones much more likely to be happy.