Why do we work so much? Why do we even work at all? For a great chunk of human history it was a simple matter of survival. We needed every able-bodied person working every day just to make it through the winter. Neglect to hunt or gather for just a few days and the consequences could be grave indeed.
Then something remarkable happened. About two and a half millennia ago some pockets of enterprising folk passed a milestone: they produced a surplus.
It’s no accident that the birth of philo...
