Let's say that these are the basic needs for sustained survival:
- Clean air
- Clean water
- More or less 2000 calories of healthy food intake
- 8 hours of Sleep
- 8 hours of labor
- Enough environmental security to maintain all of the above, a.k.a. home, bed, cleanliness, political stability, social intimacy, etc.
Anything beyond those are "wants".
In a 24 hour day, if 16 of those hours are spent on sleep and work, that leaves us with 8 hours of relative freedom. That leaves us, a.k.a. the middle class with internet access and time to spend on reading blogs, with relatively 8 hours to spend in practicing religion, making elaborate tantric love, choosing what to wear and eat and play, standing in lines, immersing in hobbies and be creative.
Beyond the necessary needs for survival, we have choices in spending those hours of relative freedom. Those 8 hours in a day add up to 56 hours/week, 2912 hours/year. If it takes 10 thousand hours to be a great at something, how have we spent our 8-hours-a-day-of-freedom for the last five years?
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