Institute for the Protection of Leisure
The Institute for the Protection of Leisure (French reformed: L'institut pour l'protection des loisirs), abbreviated IPL, is a Gylian public research institute specialised in automation and sustainability. The largest research institute in Gylias, its mission is to reduce the amount of work in Gylian society.
The IPL has had an immense impact on Gylian life and the economy. It has had a central role in bringing about widespread acceptance of the refusal of work principle in Gylias. It is the leading institution in researching and implementing ways to reduce working time through productivity improving technologies. As a result, it has a key role in the dissemination and widespread implementation of new technologies, particularly Gylias' computer industry and digital revolution.
History
The IPL was established in 1958, for the purpose of marshaling Gylias' scientific and knowledge resources in the service of the common good. It is the successor in spirit to the efficiency movement of Alscia and the similar mobilisation of applied science in the Free Territories.
The institute's first director, Ritsuko Akagi, strongly shaped its mission and internal culture. During the Golden Revolution, the IPL was influential in promoting cybernetics for decentralised planning. Its activities helped spread the Hermes Programme throughout the economy and initiate the computer industry. It also researched and aggressively pushed for methods and technologies that would reduce work in workplaces, and organised public events to try to envision what a society without work would look like.
The growth of the internet in Gylias was similarly impacted by the work of the IPL, which worked to harness the digital revolution for purposes of improving quality of life and reducing working time.
Philosophy
The IPL's mission is to reduce the amount of work in Gylian society. Its ultimate purpose is to abolish work and assist in the transition to an autonomist post-work society.
The animating principle of its work is that leisure is the most important aspect of life.
Its philosophy is strongly anarchist, and it is considered one of the main examples of "practical anarchism" in Gylian society.
It is a key institution promoting anti-work sentiments in Gylian society, including rejection of the term "work–life balance" due to its privileging of work, and supporting the ideal of non-permanent work as a form of autonomy in the context of Gylias' strong social safety net and full employment policies.
Notably, the IPL's automation drive coexists with promotion of restrictions on self-service to preserve occupations that contribute to sociality, such as elevator attendants, tray vendors, tea servers, filling station attendants, telephone operators, and paid dance partners.
Work
The IPL's primary activities are researching methods to reduce working time through automation, semi-automation, and productivity improving technologies, and overseeing their implementation throughout the economy.
A particular focus of its activity has been automating dirty, dangerous and demeaning work, as well as repetitive and routine tasks.
The IPL undertakes additional activities that complement its primary work of researching and promoting labour-reducing technologies and practices. These include:
- Coordinating with higher education institutions to undertake research projects.
- Maintaining research archives and libraries.
- Science communication in fields related to its mission.
- Publishing a number of regular publications that disseminate its research — including reports, studies, and a monthly review.
- Organising public events and debates around the theme of envisioning a society without work.
Organisation
The IPL is publicly-owned and funded. It is governed by a 5-member Managament Board, overseen by a 10-member Supervisory Board.
It also has a scientific management board and a scientific advisory board.
Impact
The work of the IPL has had a sizeable impact on Gylian life. It has helped consolidate conceptual opposition to work as part of the Gylian consensus, and its aggressive push for automation has both aided the appearance and popularisation of new technologies, and made a significant contribution to the reduction of average working hours since independence. It has been described as "a singular achievement in harnessing creative destruction for social purposes" by economist Leále Tiekat.
Its success reflects and has been made possible by the centrality of economic planning to the Gylian consensus, as well as Gylias' comprehensive social security and cooperativisation of the economy, allowing productivity gains to accrue to Gylians through public and social dividends and significant expansion of free time. This helped cement the existence of "Gylian practices" throughout the economy.