Intellectual work Vs. Manual work — Is the current state justified?
Our world of today attaches considerable value and importance to our intellectual capabilities than our physical abilities. When man first stepped on earth, he did not require intellectual skills to survive and he was totally dependent on his physical abilities. There was no requirement for application of mind. It was in these stages of civilization that man’s actions and deeds were closest to his immediate requirement. He hunted when he was hungry and slept when he was tired. His body and physical activity was instrumental to his existence.
With the gradual progress of civilization, man increasingly resorted to mind work, in a constant effort to innovate to provide better for himself and his clan. With the development of civilization and the evolution of professions, physical or manual labor gradually gave way to intellectuality. This intellectual thinking too became to be more directed towards individual interests. The result is what we see today; a hard working, slogging laborer struggling to keep up with life, while a thinking and planning CEO has a high flying life without a drop of sweat on him.
So when and why did physical labor give in to intellectuality?. How come manual labor failed to raise its value while intellectual labor not only caught up with it, but also left it far behind. Many people would argue that it is the intellectual work that can bring in development. Yes, intellectuality is the basis of all developments in any field. Intellectual work is crucial and indispensable, but it isn’t harder compared to physical or manual work. Yet mankind gave increasing value to intellectual labor, when the thumb rule defined compensation, proportional to the load or difficulty of the work, and not on the results it could produce. The truth is that mankind had to attach increasing value to intellectual work, by leap and bounds only because it was impossible to benchmark intellectual work. Every physical or manual work could be benchmarked and compensation defined, while this was not possible with intellectual work.
Take the story of the carpenter and the beggar. A carpenter once lived by making and selling chairs and tables. People who wanted them came to his house and bought the same. There was a beggar in the same neighborhood, who lived by begging food and money. Some people who wanted the furniture delivered at no fixed cost used the beggar to carry it for them, giving him any food or money for the same. The carpenter, who charged his customers for delivering, too started using the beggar’s services. The beggar became a furniture deliverer.
Having the opportunity to interact with the customers, he learnt each ones requirements and preferences, the modifications required, color, look etc.. He saw a kid sitting on the floor and doing his homework; talked to his parents about buying a chair and desk made in accordance to his height and needs.
The beggar was soon also bringing orders; living only on delivery charges, refusing to accept food in return. The carpenter’s business grew by leap and bounds. However, soon another carpenter also asked the beggar to deliver his furniture and bring in orders. Since his furniture was costlier than the earlier carpenter’s, the new one offered to give a commission to each piece sold, plus a delivery charge too. The beggar also had the right to demand delivery charges from the customers. The beggar started to earn a lot and soon started negotiating prices with the carpenter. He contacted all the carpenters, looked for beneficial dealings with them. He even contacted his earlier carpenter boss whose business was down, and needed to offset losses, was willing to make furniture just for wages. The beggar bought wood and used this carpenter’s services. The beggar learnt everything about the furniture business, except making it by himself. People who wanted furniture looked for the beggar than the carpenters. That carpenter remains a carpenter today, but the beggar has transformed to a business magnate and a CEO.
Thus we have landed here in the long run. The compensation for manual labor grew incrementally, taking into account all parameters like work conditions and market conditions, while intellectual work compensation gradually got associated to the benefits and results produced, rather than the actual efforts required for them. These people therefore benefited from the fact that intellectual labor could not be benchmarked. Therefore all the professions of today that involve 100% manual work to 0% manual work have their compensations proportionate to the ratio and level of intellectual work involved, rather than the physical work.
The ratio of intellectual work involved in a person’s job indicated the level of dependence on end results for evaluating his ability. The end results produced were attributed to their performance. Non-recognition of physical labor while adoring intellectual or abstract labor, for the results it could produce than for the efforts involved in it; are against the logic and sensible development of human civilization. Just because physical labor could easily be benchmarked, this form of labor was overlooked, which has hugely affected mankind. Everything we do is related to economy, one with wrong fundamentals. The result is what we see today rising costs, inflations, sentiments based economy, economic depressions. When we fail to establish the right values, we only get back them back.