| By Jacob on taylorism I can't wait until the book comes out. I keep getting ideas where I wish to explain some point only to realize that, hey, it's in there already, so why repeat myself. One of the things I did not explain, perhaps because I have only recently really realized the reason (gotta love the alliterations  ), is the subconscious reason I write. Objectively, it is to make the world better. Subjectively, though, it is "liberate" people who have the potential from the prevailing world-dominating groupthink so that I (and be virtue of this little community, we) may not feel like we're the only one's who "are alive"/"have a spirit"/"are mentally exuberant". Frankly, …my misanthropic tendencies stem mostly from a certain disappointment with humanity. I guess I have no right to this disappointment, hence the occasional accusation of arrogance. So I try to phrase it diplomatically … (and I just failed to do this again, eh?). I think, at heart, it all comes down to personality type. Some people, perhaps due to brain chemistry, simply value things differently. Some people, perhaps, again, due to brain chemistry, simply relate people, things, thoughts, differently. However, the world is dominated by groupthink. I don't know why this is other than the top-down industrialized form of management that permeates the job structure as well as our school system creates the ideal conditions for groupthink to thrive. Due to people's different personality types, different people resist this to different degrees. Some people are defenseless. I pity them. Others hang on for a long time. People pursuing financial independence are first and foremost pursuing independence. The financial independence is just a subset. Early retirement may be a simple consequence. Anyone thinking that early retirement is the primary objective is not getting it. Retirement is not the point. Freedom is. But very many people really do not want to be free. To them, freedom is just a slogan they can rally behind while doing the bidding of someone else. To reiterate a trite point: Freedom comes with responsibility and responsibility requires people to choose. Choosing means having to think and most people hate to think. I am right, am I not? This is why so many prefer to have a boss tell them what to do. This is why so many deliberately make early choices which lock them into a path where they can not choose latter on. This is why people like their obligations and their debts. Because then they don't have to choose. Maybe this is also why people like their TVs. TV is passive and requires no choice. There is no thinking involved. Over time, I suspect having not thought a single thought for decades but merely repeated and supported the consensus, the brain has atrophied to such an extent that a boss-dependent person has no other (perceived) choice than to start watching TV upon retirement. Such person has lost something very precious. His humanity. However, it happened long ago. He has spent years being alive yet not living. Just going through the motions and convincing himself that this is how he is supposed to live his one shot at life.  | 
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