Comment by Gdiddy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Gdiddy | Hacker News Reader

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Huge misunderstanding of David Graeber's idea. Essentially a response which is actually an advertisement for a consultancy. Graeber doesn't attack specific occupations (the article's author didn't even bother finishing his initial 'bullshit jobs' piece, let alone the new book that fleshes out the idea). Instead, he examines why so many of us experience our work as meaningless - what is missing from occupations that would provide hedonic utility, fulfilment, engagement and intrinsic motivation. That's one aspect of Graeber's argument - the other side, again missed by the articles author - is that market 'efficiency' increases inequality, which has driven down the cost of labour and led to middle class occupations becoming curation of a bureaucratic process, rather than fulfilling, imaginative, measurably impactful work. Something, in Graeber's view, and mine, intrinsically destructive of human dignity.

I find a lot of beauty in the pedantry and borderline neurosis of effective organization, but I suppose that is not what you meant by a curation of bureaucracy.

Fulfilling, imaginative, and measurably impactful work is hard. It is nearly impossible for a single person to produce it consistently. It is not guaranteed to be created. There is no formula or set of guidelines, way to live, or belief system that leads to it. Some of the best work comes from necessity, others seemingly from lethargy.

Some bullshit work is more like distributing the tasks that a single person can no longer manage, because everyone is tired. I recall Graeber making a point about the number of hours worked per week, but even then. The expectation to dazzle reliably is a huge undertaking, and I certainly do not know of any way to do it without risking burn out every few years. And that's me speaking as a perfectionist, overachiever - who at the end of every day will still push myself harder than the day before, even when it hurts. I learned an unfortunate lesson that pain and passion doesn't always bear fruit - and in that I found destruction instead.

It's more about having humility towards every person that contributes to a 'bullshit' job, which the macroscopic view and big data tend to heavily ignore. People are not data points, and their lives have immeasurable value even when they have to drag through every day. We don't have a control society for comparison. That said, part of me agrees with you, but I think speculation is mostly useless aside from guiding your own personal direction.

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