Specialization

Ok, so I haven't done a post in a while, but I was out on vacation (well back home for a funeral, but really it was vacation time as well).

But I think people obsessed with survival are silly. Why? Because I see them as preparing for a catastrophe I think is absurdly remote: the collapse of society. And not just a collapse of government, but a complete destruction of our economic infrastructure and knowledge. Kind like shark repellent in Kansas.

But why rant about that? Well the less fringe people tend to ascribe to the economic benefits of it. Namely you can do things for yourself without having to pay people. Now to me that's wrong, specialization, not generalization makes for a more productive economy. Think do you want only handymen building a skyscraper, or a foreman, architect, civil engineer, plumer, mason, etc. to biuld it? Their dedication to a particular field is actually more beneficial than them than trying to branch out. Similarly we societies based around subsitence farming tend to be lower tech.

Now I'm not saying, being able to do your own laundry or cook meals are bad. But if you stop and consider, you're actually doing work. Now most of this consider it our 'free time', but your still doing work. (note: we do still have free time that isn't work, sleeping, actively consuming resources, or even doing something otherwise productive but to no end, like sailing a boat in circles). But the reason we think of it as different from our day job is that it's at an amateur level, we aren't being judged on it by anyone but ourselves, as the benefit is not spending resources rather than accumulating them. But if you were willing to use that time instead to work your job (assuming it's more skilled than what level you're doing your hobby at), you'd likely end up richer for it, but likely less happy. So it's not always about optimizing your wealth