[Iv]

If you count the whole field of agriculture, which would include most supplies producers and processing, you reach ~2% of the population (in France, I took my country as a reference, as I know it is a net exporter of food). I don't consider preparation to be necessary because if the food is free, I can wash the potatoes myself or even make my own bread.

[chordalkeyboard]

> I don't consider preparation to be necessary because if the food is free, I can wash the potatoes myself or even make my own bread.

Who provides the water? who provides the rest of the inputs for bread?

There are a lot of things that need to be done to provide a basic standard of living, even if 1% of the society are slaves who labor in the fields for the benefit of the other 99%.

[Iv]

Oh yes, to be comfortable you need far more than just food, I agree.

My point is that we are far past the point where mere survival requires the whole population to work fulltime.

Collective choices are made with the assumption that everyone should work but we have the means to create an entirely different society.

[chordalkeyboard]

> Oh yes, to be comfortable you need far more than just food, I agree.

Its more than comfort, agricultural productivity relies on modern technology. Storage and transport of food relies on modern technology. Modern technology is a society-wide endeavor where many people contribute in tiny ways that all add up to something that can't be replaced by any of them.

> My point is that we are far past the point where mere survival requires the whole population to work fulltime.

Indeed, labor employment to population ratios range between ~40% and ~80% nowadays.

> Collective choices are made with the assumption that everyone should work but we have the means to create an entirely different society.

I think the issue is different than you are characterizing it. Why would a few people work to support everyone else without getting anything in return?