The author – PRIX TURGOT 2020 – in his latest work transports us to a new dimension by explaining the paradigm shift that is the loss of the sense of effort. A civilizational rupture is taking place.
The effort that was exalted – and which is at the heart of any successful life – is no longer of interest, it is no longer given as an example, and we prefer the egalitarian virtues of humility and passivity. We no longer salute the hero, but the victim. Elitism was a laudatory qualification, we are wary of excellence, the mediocre reassures, we have entered the lazy thirties which will logically lead to a form of economic and political bankruptcy and to a cultural, economic colonization and also to the end of our political model based on democracy because the era of laziness mainly concerns the old countries of the West.
Artificial intelligence does not make effort useless, but it changes what is essential to live happily. We cannot rule out the possibility that work will disappear and if the civilization of idleness is confused with that of laziness – which has significant consequences on our material lives – it will lead to the disappearance of the individual. Effort also dies from the profound transformation of our relationship with society because it is no longer necessary to obtain most of the things that yesterday cost so much to acquire.
One sometimes has the impression that the essential goal of every citizen is to succeed in capturing the perks of redistribution during working life and retirement. The preference for laziness has spread to all dimensions of society. The extraordinary latitude of choice conferred by prosperity ends up being tiresome, because freed from the burden of hunger, we are less able to bear the other rules that constrain us.
The development of modern civilization has changed the rites of integration and the rules of the social game. For millennia, belonging to a group meant conforming, otherwise one was not recognized as a member. We do not negotiate with the rigor of social prescriptions, because existence was precarious and relatively short, suffering and death being omnipresent. One could not be idle; the idleness of the Greek citizen is not considered laziness because it allows a work on oneself beneficial for the community. One did not choose one’s spouse or religion. Degradation is no less formidable than death, since an existence rejected by the group is not really an existence.
We must make an essential difference between pre-industrial society and ours. Today, the range of choices to be made in our lives is almost infinite. Effort is no longer the prerequisite for survival. Everyone enjoys a piece of the collective prosperity without having to participate. This opens up a new possibility: doing nothing. And it all starts at school, for the success rates of the patent are boosted by 3 to 6 points according to the academies. The progression of the number of baccalaureate recipients is a sign of its change of function. It has become a ritual of social aggregation. It is up to the institution to adapt rather than to ask students to make an effort. Now, we no longer read because the effort required is too great, we learn by entertaining ourselves via digital means. The effort would not have disappeared if it had not been discriminated against.
At the beginning of the 21st century, all the conditions are met for the death knell of the effort, which is no longer the rule but the exception, or rather that it is replaced by the trumpets of laziness, because the progress of industrial and agricultural civilization has been immense. We have access to a standard of living prodigiously superior to that of our ancestors at the cost of a considerably lower effort. We want to consume, but less and less to produce. It is no longer a question of achieving the best possible performance, but of doing what is enough to earn a salary. Laziness is no longer a flaw but an asset to be managed, the most spectacular sign – sedentary lifestyle – of triumphant laziness is the decline of our physical abilities. Today’s teenagers have lost a quarter of their lung capacity compared to those of 1990. In September 2022, Santé Publique France launched an advertising campaign “getting teenagers to move is not easy, but encouraging them is important” compare to another advertising campaign “install WhatsApp effortlessly on your tablet”.
In December 2023, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the 35-hour work week, which caused us to lose one of our two competitive advantages vis-à-vis Germany, and the 42nd anniversary of retirement at 60 years of age by distribution. The problem with political decisions is that they take a very long time to prove their merits or their shortcomings. In this case, these decisions turn out to be absolute disasters. The 35-hour week was the illusion of free money before the letter (it should be noted that we were not copied on this subject). France works too little. In 1980, we were the 13th country in terms of GDP per capita, and we are 25th in 2023. France has been living beyond its means for several decades. We buy the work we don’t want to do abroad by paying either with assets or with a drawing right on our future taxes.
Yesterday, we only existed through the group, now everything happens as if the group only existed for us. This is the second pillar of the effort that collapses, we no longer exist for others but to have fun. Avoiding effort decreases the quantity produced but also our tolerance to effort. This also affects China, where revolt is not possible and young people protest by staying in bed.
The end of the effort disarms the mind by weakening reason in favor of emotion, it makes the bed of the serious social crisis that we are going through. The world of emotion claims to value the individual, but it deprives him of his autonomy.
We have retracted the hero who was yesterday a living call to our courage, he is now inappropriate because he brings out the cowardice of all the others and he is replaced by a new figure: the victim who gives both an identity, a goal, and an excuse.
Will robots take power or are we giving it to them? The author therefore makes an appeal: we must save effort because artificial intelligence is accelerating its decline.
Olivier BABEAU, winner of the 2020 Turgot Prize for his book “The New Digital Disorder”. A university teacher and author of several books, he was director of studies at the Concorde Foundation. He directs the Sapiens Institute.
Michel Gabet