Alter-Nomad: On Work

People are expected to commute for long hours and be flexible with their own time. Individuals adapt to jobs, not the other way around. Liberalism is the nomadism of salariat and profit: companies are getting increasingly mobile to access bigger markets and generate more profit. Neo-nomadism was initiated by sedentaries for sedentaries, to ensure a flow of goods and services resulting in economic growth. Companies are compelled to adapt to the quest for profit and the strong competition resulting from globalization. It’s an amoral race for productivity where the most efficient organizations survive. Contracts trump laws: delocalization is a striking example of a quest for profit ignoring basic human rights. Services are getting increasingly mobile and exportable. Middlemen are removed (uberization) to put individuals and professionals in contact directly. Taylorism, Fordism, and similar work structures lead to more specialization, blocking social traffic among citizens. Modern sedentary work is confinement, an obvious lack of flexibility slowly turning into sclerosis.

Rethinking work is essential. Remote work is an immense opportunity, yet relatively recent, mysterious, and mostly misunderstood. It’s interesting to note that the term “travel” comes from the old French “travail”, which means “work”. The word “travail” originates from the Latin “tripalium”, an instrument of torture. From an etymological point of view, travel is closely related to work, and torture. Work defines the nomad: you need a plan to sustain yourself financially, which is a challenge of digital nomadism in itself.

I spent six months in South-East Asia this year. I experienced new cities and met new people, but I did not live it to the fullest. I was spending most of my time working from my Airbnb studio. Job stability is usually not synonymous of nomadic life, because that’s just not how companies are designed. Digital nomads are mostly freelancers, creatives and/or tech workers. They don’t work from the beach. You can go remote or work locally. Remote work, teaching and wwoofing are among the jobs favored by full-time travelers.