R: Man is Made to Work

We spend more time during our lives working than we do doing anything else, but why? Do we work to live or do we live to work? Is the thing we spend most of our time doing simply a necessary evil or it is the very essences of what it means to be human? 

Was Adam Smith right when he said that it is in the inherent interest of every man to live as much as his ease as he can? Or is work a part of being human, regardless of financial incentives? Is there something intrinsically valuable in laboring?

As Americans we work more hours than any other industrialized nation. As the Swedish increase their vacation days, Americans seek more hours in the office. Have we forgotten the role of leisure? Have we potentially transformed something that was good into something bad by becoming workaholics? 

Are our current conceptions of the workplace a perversion of virtuous work, and if so, what is the remedy?