Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer • Hacker News Board

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#171

Post by refurb » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 5:40 PM UTC

Retric wrote: post #168

refurb wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AGI is not a lie, it's Adjusted Gross Income, that is the income you actually pay tax on. It's not like it's some super secret formula that no one knows how to calculate.

Income is income, Adjustment is where the lie comes from. Sure, you can pretend it's meaningful number, but ex: charitable donations are not deductible from payroll taxes so they are clearly not going to reduce income. Or for a more obvious example, donate 1 million in appreciated and you get to deduct the full 1 million from income. (see if you can spot the problem with that.) PS: Hypothetically, if they said AGI wa…

I have no idea why you are calling it a lie. The AGI is clearly "adjusted" and the formula is public.

This might be more interesting...

In 2011, households in the top, middle, and bottom quintiles received 52, 14, and 5 percent of the nation's before-tax income, respectively; the shares of federal taxes paid by those households were 69, 9, and 1 percent.[1]

So the top quintile earns 52% of the before-tax income and payers 69% of all taxes. The bottom quintile earns 5% of all before-tax income and pays 1% of the taxes.

[1]https://www.cbo.gov/publication/49440

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#172

Post by EC1 » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 5:45 PM UTC

sanderjd wrote: post #98

EC1 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What part of it isn't true though? Don't look at how it reads, just read the words. I feel the same way, like you're being stomped in the face every day by an invisible boot except nobody knows who's wearing it, but we all feel it. We are collectively losing our identities and blending into one due to how hyper connected we are and how available cheap forms of entertainment are. It's all quite eerie. I still haven't…

I'm not sure what else to say besides that none of this rings true to me at all. I don't feel stomped in the face at all. I don't believe my identity is blending into one collective, and I wouldn't describe anyone I know in that way either; everyone seems unique and interesting after getting to know them at even a little depth. Your experience of life must just be different than mine!

Then you are already part of the collective.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#173

Post by cableshaft » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 5:47 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #56

>>> So instead of having large breaks every few months or once a year, it’s better to incorporate simple recovery practices into your everyday routine. Is this some Orwellian nightmare? Rather than have the workers do less work through holidays, let's have deal with the stress during their off hours. Don't take a 2-week holiday, just exercise more every day. Sitting at a desk all day isn't making you fat, it's that y…

> Or how about just allowing employees to exercise and de-stress on company time.

That's the key to the obesity epidemic right there. Have an onsite gym, and let employees take up to an hour off their normal 8 hours a day to exercise (or perhaps at a nearby gym, with some sort of oversight).

If you just give people that hour off, they'll be lazy and use it for other things, but if it's set aside specifically for exercise (or at the very least sitting their butts in the gym), it'll get done over time.

But it has to be unstructured and unforced. They can do it any time throughout the day, for as little as they want, but it will be no questions asked if they're in the gym (or out taking a walk or something).

And then group health premiums will drop, employee energy when they are working will increase, and they'll get just as much work done as they would have otherwise.

As a society we went from having mostly active jobs to mostly sedentary jobs. These sedentary jobs are slowly killing their employees. It should be the company's moral imperative to allow for exercise breaks during company time.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#174

Post by arcanus » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 7:13 PM UTC

sanderjd wrote: post #58

losteric wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're seeing the rise of humanity's vile offspring (to borrow from Accelerando)... ethereal ideas birthed from greed and made corporeal by law, financial machines beyond the power or comprehension of individuals.

At this point, I'm honestly not sure if this thread is a series of extremely pessimistic people, or a fairly clever riff on Lovecraftian doom writing.

I was getting a more cyberpunk vibe, but I like where you are going regardless.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#175

Post by arcanus » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 7:18 PM UTC

imtringued wrote: post #103

static_noise wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cancer has befallen the whole planet. Everything will be made to money. The whole world is becoming one big machine.

We fear superhuman AI yet we don't realise we already are that hypothetical paperclip maximiser.

Reminds me of the quote from the game Deus Ex:

The checks and balances of democratic governments were invented because human beings themselves realized how unfit they were to govern themselves. They needed a system, an industrial-age machine.

Without the use of computing machines our ancestors had to arrange themselves in crude structures that formalized decision-making.

Now are merely developing a decision-making system that does not involve organic beings.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#176

Post by simplemath » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 7:26 PM UTC

aninhumer wrote: post #137

6t6t6 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, you took the red pill?

Just so you know, while it's a complete misappropriation of the reference, "the red pill" is a term associated with a particular group with strong opinions on gender politics: https://www.reddit.com/r/theredpill

>TRP... "strong opinions"

You spelled misogyny weird.

TRP is a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#177

Post by chimprich » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 7:36 PM UTC

balfirevic wrote: post #150

chimprich wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could make a similar argument for taxes. The state provides a stable environment, covers risk, and handles overhead. Yet people (in some countries, at least) are significantly more accepting of corporations taking many times the value they are creating in profit versus the state taking a proportion of their earnings in taxes.

That's because their relationship with employer is voluntary.

Only up to a point; unless you are rich you are in effect required to take a job in most countries, and there is often not any choice available in employment. Compare that to the state where the relationship is not optional but you do get a vote in how it is run. Plus you potentially have the option of moving to another country.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#178

Post by undersuit » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 7:40 PM UTC

austinjp wrote: post #129

dragonwriter wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do not live in a post-scarcity world, and to say that we do shows a failure to understand the economic concept of scarcity. If goods aren't scarce, they have no opportunity cost -- anyone in such a society could get as much, e.g., filet mignon as they want without sacrificing their ability to get quality healthcare, education, or consumer electronics. Greater overall and per capita productivity isn't, and doesn't…

I don't quite follow this. I'm inclined to believe we are experiencing scarcity. Sure, I can buy just about anything I desire and can afford. Any food item, cheap clothing, cheap travel. But I think that's an illusion. Let's say I'm prepared to pay £50-£100 for an item of clothing. Shoes, jacket, whatever. It's likely to be made by impoverished people on the other side of the world who are paid peanuts. I could even…

You say were experiencing scarcity then you start listing off luxuries! A mechanically constructed, mechanically harvested cotton blanket and mechanically harvested diet of beans and potatoes sounds more feasible. Maybe even too basic.

An efficient entry-level post-scarcity world is not going to overproduce pairs of jeans or transport coconut water across the world. That world would make just enough clothing to cover the populace and provide a cup of water on request. That world would want to stay just above scarcity, no want to waste, no need to introduce artificial market driven scarcities.

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#179

Post by prawn » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 8:24 PM UTC

Apocryphon wrote: post #9

cballard wrote: post #2

> So if we need to work long hours, what can we do to recover? Not work long hours? This is what unions are for (now, if we could just have one without dues/political contributions).

I've long been a proponent for hackers to "disrupt" labor by reinventing unions. (And call them guilds, because hey it's a name that works on multiple levels). On the subject of dues being required to pay for full-time guild leaders as brought up in the sibling comments, that makes sense. But could it be supplemented by crowdfunding and alternate pay models, instead of mandating a set price? Tiered membership? Freemi…

Definitely agree that there's an opportunity to modernise unions and remove potential corruption.

Has anyone explored trying it with a private membership app?

Re: Overworked? Good habits, not holidays, are the answer

#180

Post by diogenescynic » Fri, Feb 12, 2016, 8:29 PM UTC

neltnerb wrote: post #49

diogenescynic wrote: post #42

As someone who routinely has more work than they can finish in an 8-hour work day, the headline and article strike me as tone-deaf and victim blaming. It's simply not possible to solve the overwork problem entirely by 'good habits' alone. When you do a good job digging ditches, often your reward is a bigger shovel. When you do well, somehow more work finds it's way to your desk. I don't think you can always be findin…

First, it's clearly talking about steady state, not emergencies. And if you're always in emergency mode these are even more important to know about in terms of the psychology... Maybe you can't stop reading email or have time to go biking after work, but ten minute breaks to go outside scattered around the day? Creating a ritual to help your brain to switch from hard core work mode to resting mode? It can literally j…

>it's clearly talking about steady state, not emergencies

I'm also clearly talking about steady state, not emergencies--that's what I meant by "routinely." Yes, taking breaks helps and so do rituals but it doesn't make the work go away or let you get home any sooner. My point is that some jobs always have a backlog or glut or work to catch up on. Usually this is because the company purposely under-staffs the position/department. However, I don't see these systemic issues as something the individual can change. They can merely cope or find a new job--neither of which provide an 'answer' as they headline implies. Healthy work habits are great, but it's no solution to simply being overworked.