In this video, Stephen Antonioni manages to give us a good sense of how our society has come to be structured over time – from the Agricultural Revolution all the way up to present day. Of course there are a lot of other folks who have also more or less converged to this model of how society has evolved and got structured, mainly due to the human need for survival, greed and all other aspects of evolution and history. I had to pick one, so I just picked this one as an example.

For the first 18 years or so of our life (the formative years) we follow a series of institutional programming (school, media, culture etc.) designed to achieve one main goal – to be able to get a job. This might be a natural process based on the societal requirements of that era, as depicted by the following model:

Hierarchical structures existed in human society since the beginning of human history, as they are a fixture of nature itself.

As humans we’ve been living life as a game, lets call it “The Great Game”. The following model shows how this Game has been played across the history of humanity:

In other words, we’ve been playing the Game to determine the hierarchy structure of humanity and how do we distribute the resources across the hierarchy. Money is the point system, and resources are what we are trading money for.

An incredibly complex game and played out on a massive scale. Over the ages, we have been updating the game and start playing a different version of it. The various versions were based on Slavery/Servitude, Feudalism and now Capitalism.

Lets also look at the various levels of Power/Freedom vs Compulsion of Labor in this hierarchy (Player vs Builder):

Most start here in life (You are a Player):

In the hierarchy based on US dollar net worth, those with zero or negative net worth are at the bottom, utterly dependent on exchanging labor for money. Their lives are dictated by workplace demands and lack freedom.

A bit higher up (You are still a Player):

A bit more higher (some power starts coming into play, but you are still a Player):

Power = the ability to influence the Game itself = to be able to build things within the Game.

Rules of the Game = have been determined by people higher up in the hierarchy. 

Financial freedom starts showing up (You could start transitioning into a Builder):

Between one hundred thousand dollars and one million dollars, financial independence increases, allowing some to leave the workforce or work on their own terms. They gain the ability to build ventures and invest.

People try to retire here. If you can retire at an earlier age, the better.

The builder’s zone (Builders): 

Beyond the eight-figure mark, individuals become builders, free from the compulsion of labor and with access to resources. They primarily build within the game, creating infrastructure and reaping rewards.

So all a “Job” is a role you take in the game based on its current version and and what has been built inside.

Now for the fun part.

Why No One Wants to Get a “Job”

But perhaps for the first time since the Agricultural Revolution, large segments of society are questioning whether following the traditional path in life and getting or having a job is the best thing for them to do. I’d say this is a very good sign as it might be indicative of the fact that the time might be coming for a Paradigm shift in Society.

Its understandable that a lot of folks might feel threatened by this notion. Well, for obvious reasons, the Employers  will not be happy with this idea. A lot of normal folks or Employees might also find it a bit strange because, they have come to strongly associate their identity with their careers. They might have spent 10, 20 or 30 plus years of their life making decisions that have prioritized their Jobs for providing them security, predictability, survival, paying bills and such.

But realize that making these choices means that they have forgone some freedom in their lives – the freedom to wake up, work, sleep, go to vacation etc., whenever they want. If you really analyze it, its feels like some sort of slavery – wage slavery.

Question is, are you happy with your:

Current Career,

Level of Financial and Personal independence,

Sense of meaning and fulfillment in life,

Understanding of the Universe?

He does acknowledge that going back a generation or so, getting a Job might have been ok in the sense that an individual could count on that Career for Job security, Financial stability and being able to live the American dream “somewhat”! But nowadays, with the non-stop Corporate re-org crazyness going on all the time, it seems like a Joke for the majority of the work-force.

So, if you desire:

A high degree of Financial independence,

A high degree of mental and physical independence,

A strong sense of meaning and fulfillment in life,

A confident understanding of your place in the Universe,

…then, the traditional career path might not be the best way to achieve this.

Either consciously or unconsciously, the inability to achieve these things is the motivation behind the sense of dread that you feel when you have to go to back to work on Monday morning.

It looks like the information revolution (comprising of the Internet and Social Media) is creating opportunities for small-scale builders to find their path. Options have opened up for anyone to be a Producer or Builder. My take on this trend is that even though this revolution comes with its own set of problems, the overall impact of it will be positive for humanity. I will delve into more details on this topic in another Post.

But for now, suffices to say that the the rules of the Game are changing most probably for the better.

Please let me know what you think in the comments below.