On Tue, 23 Sep 1997, Jill Gillham wrote:
> The time I can think of this coming up in science fiction (although in a
> far future setting) was in one of Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat
> Books (not sure which one, I'm at work right now, and books are home).
> The planetary society in question pretty much valued all work, whether at
> home or outside as having a tangible value associated with it. A stay at
> home spouse making dinner for the outside worker, the worker at the
> factory, the child doing their chores all received "money" for their work.
> In the story, paying your spouse for cooking dinner didn't imply a lack or
> love or any sort of thing like that, but rather it was simply a
> transaction for services rendered. Overall, the society was regarded as a
> prosperous one, I recall.
Hmm. I think I remember the one you are talking about however I might be
wrong. I remember it a bit differently. This was a utopia. Definitely a
utopia. Everyone got paid for the TIME that they worked, essentially on
an effort basis? With increasing technology, this meant less and less
work for more and more stuff. Most people worked a few hours a week (2-4
or something). The society was also completely non-violent and very
loosely connected to the materialistic world because, get this, no one
really owned anything. essentially, everything was rented/communal or
something. When "bad people" came and made trouble the people would just
leave, including the people serving the food and drinks.
(SPOILER)
It turned out that the whole thing was possible because of a great big AI
computer system that kept track of everything in a fair and equitable
manner and essentially (i think) kept humanity from slipping down the
slippery slope into greed, cheating, and beurocracy (however that word is
spelled). I liked it alot. It seemed on the same level of reality as
herland, but I liked that too.
-- Joel VanLaven
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