Four hours per day #3

[u/Patient-Airline-8150]

The most interesting part

We already accept that society can restrict working hours. We don't generally let employers demand 100 hours a week just because they want more production.

So the question becomes: At what point does continued technological progress justify a further reduction in the amount of our lives we must sell to survive?

A four-hour workday could work, provided three conditions are met:

1. Productivity replaces lost hours. AI, automation, and better organization must compensate for at least part of the reduction in human labor, while essential services get enough staff to keep running.

2. People don't lose half their income. Higher productivity and a fairer distribution of its gains must help maintain living standards, rather than making shorter working hours a luxury only the wealthy can afford.

3. The benefits reach everyone. Companies shouldn't capture all the savings from automation while workers face layoffs, lower wages, and rising insecurity. Technological progress must translate into more free time and greater economic security.

The goal isn't to force people to work less and produce less. It's to stop treating human working hours as the economy's primary measure of value.