[semiel]

> Any less and a society can't function

I disagree with this. There is simply less work to be done than there used to be, what with automated factories and powerful computers. We've somehow turned this into an "unemployment crisis", when by rights it ought to be a huge boon that means everyone can work less.

[prodigal_erik]

There are diminishing returns. You could easily have eight people each working a one-hour shift on an assembly line once they all know the task, but writing code that way would be absurd--they'd waste almost all the time explaining how they intend to proceed with what they only just started on.

[semiel]

That's a pretty silly strawman. It would obviously be a better idea to work fewer months out of the year, or weeks out of the month, or days out of the week. How long a single session of work is is probably the least important variable.