tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post3185218530723559345..comments2024-03-07T14:43:21.888-08:00Comments on Whatever I want to write about: Doing nothing versus ... doing Bullshit Jobs?Sriram Khéhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06907731254833435446noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-24023702988705189582013-08-26T07:25:43.534-07:002013-08-26T07:25:43.534-07:00I am surprised that you even note "respect&qu...I am surprised that you even note "respect" when commenting on Graeber's rant ;)<br /><br />Yes, I am with you on every point you make (though I have minor quibbles over how free the world is ... it is way freer than it has ever been, yes)<br /><br />Often, I find that the leftist folks are incredibly condescending, along the lines of how some work is superior to others. My pet peeve is when teachers complain that garbage truck drivers get paid more than teachers do--once I even remarked that if it matters to them that much then they should quit teaching and work as trash truck drivers.<br /><br />Yes, the people who work in the kinds of people-care work, like the one you point out, deserve to be paid a lot more for their work ... and that's where my complaint is--the reason they don't get paid more is a reflection of how the market (we the people) values their work versus that of a college professor who rants. The market fails, to some extent. Bullshit is valued more!<br /><br />I am with Ryan Avent that it has been a steady march towards liberating humans from chores, and we could well be on our way to a "work-less" future. Which is also why we have lots of leisure time, which we spend on watching ballgames, movies, where they earn a gazillion more than the hospital attendant, more than the trash truck drivers, and more than college professors too ;)Sriram Khéhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06724218458246880137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27946614.post-83169467685507178372013-08-25T20:25:30.193-07:002013-08-25T20:25:30.193-07:00With all due respect, it is Graeber's writing ...With all due respect, it is Graeber's writing that is bullshit. I positively gagged at it. Rarely have I read a viewpoint on which I can disagree with almost every word.<br /><br />Its a free world. We can choose what job we want to do. Jobs are created because there is a demand for their output - not because of some holy grail of Graeber's. To claim that monotony means a bullshit job is an awful hypothesis. And to say that a poet is invariably superior to a pizza delivery guy is the worst form of snobbishness I can imagine.<br /><br />Yes, humans will automate away most of the tedium, but to say that we are not enjoying greater leisure is plain bullshit. We are enjoying far more leisure than what we did thousands of years ago.<br /><br />We should learn never to degrade jobs. The lady who changes the bed pan in a hospital ,in my book, is a saint.Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.com