Hacker News Reader

Comment by jokoon | Hacker News Reader

As a chronically unemployed 36 y old, this doesn't surprise me at all.

The way people pursue work and careers is weird when food and shelter are easily available.

It's not just about the economics of labor and "earning a love", it's about what people do of their lives and time.

This is an eternal debate about Diogenes, but I'm surprised how do many individuals can freely and willingly give so much of their time for work. It's a mix of belief system, markets, social hierarchy and sociology, psychology and other things.

I know I'm an odd ball, but the pandemic was great for making people realize those things.

View on HN

I completely agree and have felt this happen to me personally. I maintained employment throughout 2020 but have felt quite a strong pull towards reconsidering how I spend my time and energy, and how much of it goes to "work."

Out of curiosity, do you know any literature that I could read to understand the eternal debate about Diogenes that you mention? I'm trying to understand the more philosophical questions around work and our modern culture finding itself in a quite a jolting self-aware realization about work, time, attention and our liberties -- and I'd love to read some of the existing foundational lit in this space.

I studied comp sci, so really just doing this out of a deep curiosity and an understanding that I didn't get the opportunity to study any of this in college.

David Graeber talked about stuff like this sometimes. His book Bullshit Jobs [0] is one place. He talks about the history of work in the U.S. (going back to medieval guilds, puritans, industrial revolution, consumerism, etc), amongst other things.

[0] https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/david-graeber-bullsh...

Quote about Diogenes:

“The philosopher Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king. Said Aristippus, 'If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.' I haven't read anything about Diogenes, but listened to several podcasts of philosophers talking about Diogenes.

Also going to advise reading Bullshit Jobs by Graeber. Add "In praise of idleness" by Bertrand Russel. The Abolition of Work by Bob Black.

The subreddit /r/antiwork is quite extreme but has good info on their wiki https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/wiki/index

I work more than I like,but have realized that I don't like not working.

I took time off for parental leave. The binding time was amazing, but I didn't do anything - even when I didn't have child care responsibilities.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com