is it capitalism or the fundamental emptiness of life?
Eventually climate change, or asteroids or supernova gets everyone left.
I submit that the "fake" subjective meaning and some "real" objective meaning are indistinguishable.
That's what a Nine Inch Nails song taught me once.
(But, given that we don't know what most matter or energy that makes up the Universe is, it feels a little silly to anchor meaning to current cosmological knowledge. Maybe a nice meaning to adopt is to improve that knowledge because we might discover ways to insulate against heat death indefinitely or something. Although you likely won't be doing that at the salaries in the OP.)
I believe I already stipulated to religious belief as a way out of this quandary.
For me, I've grown up in a capitalist society, with parents from a communist one. My sense of meaning in life comes from navigating through this environment (our laws, rules, societies, etc.), and trying to make the most of it (and earn a healthy living) to provide for my family, and make sure that I and everyone I care about have long, healthy, enjoyable lives together.
If we were in a communist society (and not one that's post-scarcity which seems far, far off), I wouldn't be able to do this... and I don't know how you can argue that there's no meaning to the pursuit of a better world for everyone (with small exceptions, creating value is necessary for making money in a capitalistic society), reaping the rewards of that value creation, and making sure that it benefits and protects those I love.
>My sense of meaning in life comes from navigating through this environment (our laws, rules, societies, etc.), and trying to make the most of it (and earn a healthy living) to provide for my family, and make sure that I and everyone I care about have enjoyable lives together.
> If we were in a communist society (and not one that's post-scarcity which seems far, far off), I wouldn't be able to do this
Why not? It's just a different environment, different set of rules, and different challenges. Some people navigated communism well and found meaning, many others did not.
The GP seemed to be using the label of capitalism to apply to sociopathic profit-seeking-for-its-own-sake, as opposed to the loosely defined economic and political model of capitalism. In that sense, what they're saying makes a lot of sense.
There are more -isms than those.
In Sapiens, Harari argues ideologies such as capitalism and communism and belief systems such as your company serve the very same purpose: to give life a meaning.
To me, it appears akin to fairytales we tell our children.
Not all higher callings are religious.
Helping other people is meaningful. When the work is alienated from the people you're helping is when a job feels empty. It seems particularly common in high-paying jobs - or perhaps certain jobs are high-paying precisely because they're so alienating.
Work exists to allow you to enrich the capital ownership class, of which you are likely not a part (if you were, you wouldn't need to work to eat.) That's it.
If you want to find more, look elsewhere.
They have exactly was the article describes as essential features for job happiness: respect from people they respect, working on something that make the world a (little) bit better for others, and lots of trust and autonomy within the company.
I don't really care about heavy claims like moral weight or dignity of purpose. But what I do know is that it provides immense amount of satisfaction that I wouldn't want to do without.
Do you have any systems in mind where work exists to provide meaning?
I have the impression that you are arguing as work as a way of finding purpose in general.
And at that point, the whole discussion becomes kind of pointless.