on hobbies

On hobbies,

A model train set in the basement was either built, bought, or spontaneously generated.
As the third possibility is only a figment of the silver screen, I will consider only the prior pair.
Model train design, manufacture, and sales is an industry. Jobs are created, utilities are consumed, cars are driven, posters are printed, etc.
Why?
So some child (or man/child) can be entertained?
Why do humans engage in entertainment? In leisure?
Two probable reasons come to mind:
1) We are not wired to instinctively accomplish the tasks which we feel compelled to accomplish for economic reasons. (We were not made to provide for ourselves in menial labors like putting the heads on pins, managing a hobby store, etc., but we do.)
2) We are somehow un-fulfilled in any (perhaps the aforementioned tasks, perhaps even in the tasks necessary for life)and seek a sense of mastery in another simpler or more 'interesting' task.

We were not made to enslave ourselves to labor, let alone labors not directly affecting our sustainance. If we are not fully able to feel that our labor is accomplishing our provition and protection, then we must pursue a sense of satisfaction from another source. We may seek our satisfaction through a 'hard reset' to our hard-wired drives through:
1) A lifestyle which supplies exactly and directly for our needs.
2) Leisure, which finds us in a state of simple, direct, due provision and protection without the application of any labor. (picture: man on dock, fishing; woman on couch, reading)

I believe we generally find the first solution implausible when the surrounding society is non-participatory. So, we resign ourselves to the second solution. We intentionally participate in tasks which assume provision and protection but have no exchangable value (who would pay a man to watch TV?).

However, if a person finds him/herself only satisfied by participation in deeds without any provisional, protective, or exchangable value, this is probably mild insanity, and may qualify the sufferer for an accelerated rate of expiration...(but for a supportive political/familial condition).

Coming soon: "On retirement", "On non-exchangable goods", and "On wanton consumption"