Utopia for Realists And How We Can Get There
Reviews
An eye opener to the possibility of a host of ideas I have always somehow felt in my gut but never deemed them as truly plausible. The idea of the smartest minds being invested in bullshit jobs increasingly has struck a chord most profoundly in me. Definitely would recommend everyone to give it a read because the book dares you to dream of a new Utopia and to take that dream seriously.
5 stars! 5 stars! 5 stars!
How to wrap this up? Saya benar-benar tertarik dengan Bregman setelah videonya di Davos viral di internet. Butuh setahun bagi saya buat beli buku ini (karena saya bener-bener gak nemu buku ini di marketplace Indonesia). Akhirnya ada satu orang yang jual dengan harga lumayan murah. Akhirnya saya baca buku ini. Setelah selesai baca, saya banyak menulis lagi tentang poin-poin yang Bregman sampaikan. Universal Basic Income sebagai solusi untuk penurunan kasus kriminal, kenakalan remaja, perceraian, dan bahkan kemiskinan. Fifteen Hour Workweek diajukan sebagai solusi agar pekerjaan masyarakat terfokuskan (stick to the real job) tanpa harus mengorbankan keluarga, teman, dan kesehatan mental mereka. Open Borders adalah ide paling menantang. Ini memberikan suatu tantangan bagi semua negara untuk membuka batas-batas negara untuk menaikkan employment rate. Menurut saya, Open Borders agak sulit untuk direalisasikan mengingat level of trust negara berbeda-beda. Bregman dalam penulisannya tidak bertele-tele, persuasif, tak memberikan sebatas opini namun juga fakta-fakta sejarah yang belum saya tahu sebelumnya. Fakta sejarah sangat unik dan ini juga menyadarkan saya bahwa manusia dalam perjalanannya harus belajar dari sejarah untuk membangun masa depan yang mereka inginkan. Utopia dapat dicapai, bahkan dekat sekali dengan mata kita. Bregman menunjukkan faktor-faktor krusial yang dapat menjadi suatu bukti bahwa kita membutuhkan utopia. Kita sadar bahwa dunia kita sangat korup, serakah, bahkan timpang. Tapi mengapa tidak ada dari kita yang maju untuk mengatakan hal ini dan juga mengajukan suatu ide? Ide-ide baru pasti akan dianggap tidak realistis, tidak dapat diaplikasikan, bahkan dianggap tidak rasional. Tapi Bregman dengan kepercayaan dirinya dan kemahirannya dalam memberikan data lewat storytelling membukakan mata saya. Kita perlu suatu utopia. Kita perlu mewujudkan itu. Rutger Bregman dengan idenya telah membangkitkan kembali sedikit optimisme dalam diri saya (dan juga beberapa negara lain yang telah kembali melakukan eksperimen Universal Basic Income). Buku ini merupakan suatu awal dari perubahan yang panjang. Salut untuk Bregman dengan ide dan risetnya yang mendalam.
Los libros de Rutger bregman siempre me dejan con un alivio en el alma, es bueno saber que alguien escribe lo que muchos soñamos
The last 2/3 chapters have some of the most eye-opening stats I have heard. And massive respect the author for reflecting on their own bias and judgements.
The last 2/3 chapters have some of the most eye-opening stats I have heard. And massive respect the author for reflecting on their own bias and judgements.
This book changed my perspective on economy and society.
"Das Problem sind nicht die neuen Ideen. Das Problem ist, wie wir uns von den alten Ideen lösen können."
Da ist glaube ich der Knackpunkt für mich. Ich bin bei den beschriebenen Ideen absolut dabei, die Ideen sind überhaupt nicht das Problem, ich finde die Begründung nur nicht passend für mich. Ich glaube das Buch sollte von vielen Leuten gelesen werden, es kann als Inspiration und Zielsetzung dienen, das ist schonmal viel. Ich finde aber, dass die Begründungen und Meinungen in diesem Buch nicht nuanciert genug sind. (Gleiches Problem was das Internet hat, Reichweite erzeihlt man gut mit polarisierenden Botschaften.) Absolute Meinungen verkaufen sicherlich, aber ich finde für die Auseinandersetzung mit unserer Zukunft (auch auch generell) sollte man etwas überlegter formulieren. Das ist sonst zu vereinfacht.
Beklediğimi, aradığımı pek bulamadım belki de benim beklentilerim farklıydı. Kitaptan net tespitlerle, didaktik şekilde fikirler bombardımanı beklemiyordum ama sadece gelir eşitsizliği ve basit, daha önce denenmiş çözüm önerilerinden, sınırları kaldırmaktan fazlasını beklemek de mantıksız bir beklenti, istek değil. Gelir eşitsizliğinin çözümü yazarın önerdiği gibi bir çok sorunun temelinde doğru ve bu sorunu çözmek gelecek için daha iyi bir dünya kurma açısından da basit ve temel başlangıç olabilir. Okuması akıcı ve istatistik bombardımanına tutmadan daha çok algımızın değişmesi üzerine eğilmesi kitabın ana amcı olarak algıladığım için başarısız bir çalışma arak göremem. Sonuç olarak gelecek için bir çıkış noktası sunuyor ve bunun da en azından insanların düşünmesine yol açması içn önemli bir çalışma.
An interesting look at the (possible) future of work.
The last 2/3 chapters have some of the most eye-opening stats I have heard. And massive respect the author for reflecting on their own bias and judgements.
"If we want to change the world, we need to be unrealistic, unreasonable, and impossible". Lleno de datos, artículos, estudios y más, este libro tiene algunas de las ideas más ¿revolucionarias? para los problemas más grandes de la humanidad, y aún así todas han sido probadas antes... Además, escrito sin jerga académica complicada, divertido y esperanzador, sin ser cursi o condescendiente.
If only governments were obligated to implement ideas from this book. I totally agree with the 15 hours work week and basic income. One of my mottoes has long been "no one on their death beds wishes they had worked more or harder". It's the best thought exercise to ask yourself if you are investing in the right things in life. “When you’re obsessed with efficiency and productivity, it’s difficult to see the real value of education and care. Which is why so many politicians and taxpayers alike see only costs. They don’t realize that the richer a country becomes the more it should be spending on teachers and doctors. Instead of regarding these increases as a blessing, they’re viewed as a disease.”
Highlights
Greater flexibility in the workplace demands that we also create greater security. Globalization is
Not coincidentally, the countries with the shortest workweeks also have the largest number of volunteers and the most social capital.
You can't pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you have no boots.
In the twenty-first century, the real elite are those born not in the right family or the right class but in the right country.
The biggest regret was, "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me." Number two, "I wish I didn't work so hard."
From the "The Top Five Regrets of the Dying"
"Work is the refuge of people who have nothing better to do" Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900.
Stable and meaningful work plays a crucial part in every life well lived. By the same token, forced leisure (getting fired) is a catastrophe. Psychologists have demonstrated that protracted unemployment has a greater impact on wellbeing than divorce or the loss of a loved one. Time heals all wounds, except unemployment because the longer you're sidelined the deeper you slide.
...it is the peculiar lowness of poverty that you discover first... [George Orwell] writes, "you thought it would be quite simple, it is extraordinarily complicated. You thought it would be terrible, it is merely squalid and boring." Orwell recalls spending entire days simply lying in bed because there was nothing worth getting up for. "The crux of poverty," he says, "is that it annihilates the future, all that remains is surviving in the here and now."
"The true business of people should be to go back to school and think about whatever it was they were thinking about before somebody came along and told them they had to earn a living." Richard Buchminster Fuller, 1895-1983.
Schließlich legt die Bildung geeignete Werkzeuge in unsere Hand, um unsere Ansichten zu verteidigen. Intelligente Menschen sind sehr gut darin, Argumente, Expertenmeinungen und Studien zu finden, die ihre vorgefassten Meinungen bestätigen, und dank des Internets fällt es uns leichter denn je, Bestätigung für unsere eigenen Ansichten zu finden und mit einem Mausklick auf einen weiteren Beleg für ihre Stichhaltigkeit zuzugreifen. Der amerikanische Journalist Ezra Klein erklärt, dass intelligente Menschen ihren Verstand nicht nutzen, um die richtige Antwort zu finden. Sie nutzen ihn, um die Antwort zu finden, die ihnen gefällt.
Lässt sich die Realität nicht mit unseren tiefsten Überzeugungen in Einklang bringen, so basteln wir uns lieber eine neue Realität, als dass wir unser Weltverständnis korrigieren würden. Mehr noch, wir versteifen uns sogar mit wachsender Leidenschaft auf unsere Überzeugungen.