The rise of the pointless job

Post by richev » Fri, May 04, 2018, 10:37 PM UTC

WJW wrote: post #216

foamflower wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When my family lived in Japan years ago, we noticed that when taking the train, approximately three attendants checked our tickets before we boarded a train. At least two of those jobs are "bullshit" in terms of producing wealth, but they are socially beneficial in a culture where the social contract requires near-zero unemployment. (I, apparently like you, can't help but remember this kind of arrangement when listen…

Is visited the USA just once (in 2003), but there was an old man that took my bag off the end of the luggage belt at the airport and handed it to me. I could easily have picked it up myself, but he was there for those 30 centimeters of bag travel. I remember being amazed about it and remarking the pointlessness of that job to my coworkers.

Post by FLUX-YOU » Fri, May 04, 2018, 10:42 PM UTC

tlb wrote: post #19

The goon category is interesting in a future world where AI has replaced most jobs, because it can employ an unlimited number of people. (Goon jobs exist to counterbalance other goon jobs. Militaries are the canonical example.) Most jobs -- teachers, auto workers, plumbers, farmers -- have a natural ceiling on employment related to demand, but goon jobs don't because when one side hires more goons, the other side has…

Post by chongli » Fri, May 04, 2018, 10:45 PM UTC

peterwwillis wrote: post #97

trophycase wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. The real useless jobs are the 10 people working on animating hair for the next Assassin's Creed game or the CGI for the next Marvel film

Those aren't bullshit either... Who else is going to animate the hair? If there's a robot that can do the job, great, but it has to get done somehow.

Post by dantheman » Fri, May 04, 2018, 10:46 PM UTC

tom_mellior wrote: post #238

bomb199 wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Job's Guarantee is a real movement, and a reasonable idea for this reason. Not having a job puts you in a lower social caste - might as well have them doing SOMETHING. Even if it's not especially productive, the small positive affect is better than nothing.

No. Eight hours of soul-crushing boredom every day keeps people in such jobs from doing... anything they want. Like learning stuff that might help them contribute to society in other ways (in a more useful job, maybe). > Not having a job puts you in a lower social caste This is a stupid societal expectation that should be fought rather than supported in the way you say.

Post by evanpw » Fri, May 04, 2018, 11:04 PM UTC

edraferi wrote: post #239

modbait wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Through my long career, I've notice virtually no correlation between my pay and the utility of my position. And indeed, I've had one or two jobs like yours. Sadly for my bank book, I can only stand being useless for relatively short stretches. I still reminisce about my lowest paying job, my first. It was probably the most enjoyable and satisfying. It was also useful, though perhaps not at the top of that list. It's…

There's an economic theory that job satisfaction is a kind of compensation. That is, you have to pay people more to do unsatisfying jobs.