Comment:

Yes, in 2167, 20 hours a week is considered full time. Of course, in a world where food and shelter are guaranteed to even the laziest moochers, most people who are motivated to work at all would be motivated to put in overtime on top of that.

An old quote from the Jetsons has stuck with me - George is commuting in to work, and he gripes "these three hour work weeks are murder!". The joke, you see, is that centuries of social progress have reduced the requirements of human labour drastically, but the human condition is not changed.

In fact, that seems to encapsulate the Jetsons as a whole - in much the same way that the Flintstones is just the Honeymooners with a coat of caveman paint, the Jetsons is a twentieth century cartoon sitcom with robots and aliens. The gender relations, family structure, economy, industry, crime... the society is not actually a futuristic one. When I set out to make Forward, I had no intention of writing the Jetsons.

(It is worth noting that, thanks to the flexibility of my part-time employment at the call center, I have had three hour work weeks. Anyone who knows me knows that this certainly does not mean that I only worked for three hours.)

I've had characters riff on Cain and Abel before, so I don't think I'll retread that ground here, except to point out that our English translations, tragically, miss out on the fact that Cain is being a sarcastic asshole. You see, before he became the parent of all vampires, Cain was in charge of tending livestock. When God comes to ask him where Abel is, Cain's response can be understood as "I'm a sheep-herder, not a brother-herder".

I find it helps to give him Bones' voice: "Damnit, Jim, I tend sheep, not brothers!"

Transcript:

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0112 - 2167/07/06/12:50 - Rosenthal College, Orb Twofeather's office
OT: Our system... hell, our whole damn society... has failed Lee.
OT: You know, I looked up the entry records for their dorm, which apparently we can do. Aside from deliveries and doctor visits, Lee hadn't had a visitor for over two years, until Zoa showed up on their doorstep six pm yesterday.
OT: Lee's been cocooned in that place. Trapped by their own lack of momentum. They're directionless, no personal growth plan, no career, no relationships, no prospects. They don't have anything outside of themselves to strive for or to work towards.
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OT: And, I mean, I'm not saying they should have to go out and work or study full time, twenty hours a week in order to be worthy of having a roof over their head and food on their plate. I'm not a barbarian.
PH: Of course.
OT: But maybe we should have done something more to be sure Lee was happy and healthy, rather than just relying on a psychologist app that shows a green checkmark saying Lee is not technically depressed.
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PH: I agree with your premise that Lee Caldavera represents a failure of Canadian society, but that is not specifically Rosenthal College's responsibility.
OT: I'm not saying it's the college's fault, Patricia, I'm saying it's our problem collectively. Y'know... us.
PH: You can take responsibility for the spiritual well-being of this freeloader if you want, Twofeather. I do not, and Rosenthal does not. I am not my sibling's keeper.
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OT: You know, in the Bible, the person who said that line was their sibling's murderer.
PH: ...and went on to be the parent of all vampires, yes, I'm familiar with the myth.
OT: ...You really should sit in on my classes more often.
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