Hacker News Reader

Comment by hans1729 | Hacker News Reader

I disagree heavily with this. Lots of people make a living doing what they love/building a better world. Just because we normalized selling our attention to the highest fiscal bidder, doesn’t mean that the highest fiscal bid is actually valuable in terms of life quality. Nobody looks back and says “eh, I wish I’d have worked more at [soulless job]”. I think your perspective is extreme dystopian, and it makes me sad to think about how many people live their lifes with that mindset. Look up “purpose economy”

View on HN

I might come off as really cynical, but i agree with your statement completely. The best place i worked didn't feel like work, smart motivated people with little managerial oversight and a shared vision, awesome times.

What I'm trying to say is: look out for yourself out there because no one else will, don't let yourself be exploited

I really appreciate this response and relate to this.

I think I was in a really similar mindset as OP, the last company I was at I was very naive and believed this pitch about the company. Come to find out the company had nothing. What I did gain is a great learning lesson on how I should approach work and more.

My current company I looked for specific things and listened during the interview. I know interviews can only give you so much, but when I decided on the last job I ignored so many red flags in hope that this will turn into something huge, I should have looked at it as a true red flag that this will be a rough experience.

Also having ADHD this is something that is tough at times

Not going to try to look like I'm explaining how life works just my 2c: life is complicated and quality comes in different shapes and forms. "A job is an exchange of services" is a way to reduce this complexity and cut down on the interdependence of dimensions we optimize for.

I personally don't have the constraint that i need to give everything to my job and it needs to give back, so i agree with the GP and don't see it as dystopian, just one of the many ways of living.

Others legitimately do have this constraint and probably have to simplify elsewhere (not have kids is something I've seen a lot).

> Nobody looks back and says “eh, I wish I’d have worked more at [soulless job]”

There are a lot of people which quit their "soulless" job and to chase their dream just to ultimately be forced to give up on them after loosing years of savings. I very much doubt that none of them regret leaving their jobs

It's tricky, because in the alternate universe those people are regretting wasting their life instead of trying to follow their dreams. The only situation that doesn't lead to some form of regret is the one where following the dreams works out.

Or one where pursuing them was still worth it for the lessons in/the pursuit of it.

> I very much doubt that none of them regret leaving their jobs

Maybe in the moment. But savings don’t buy you anything when you’re dead. I’m inclined to believe that you’d later look back on that period of your life as ‘sure glad I did that when I could’.

There is plenty of time in one life to work for both dystopian corporations and follow your passion.

>Lots of people make a living doing what they love/building a better world.

Really? America must be a great place then. Don't know anyone like that where I live. My doctor friends would be closest but they certainly don't have a good quality of life and their lives are quite dystopian.

How do you explain the ten's or hundreds of thousands of people in the world that already have financial freedom (i.e. enough in the bank to live comfortably the rest of their lives), and yet still get up everyday and goto work?

Unless you grew up to it, I think it’s really hard for humans to live a life of leisure.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com