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Quit Your Job

palladiummag.com

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Re: Quit Your Job

#411

Post by kirso »

meheleventyone wrote: post #217
JimboOmega wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It smells like privilege. That isn't to say that the OP was protected regardless. But the mindset that lets you do this is a mindset that comes from a background of abundance. Where you can always get another job if you want one, where you always have friends or parents who will bail you out or give you what you need. A background where things just always seem to work out.

The author goes on to talk about how there should be a leisure class (basically an aristocracy) and that should be “people of means”. So it’s not even hidden really, it’s just a cementing of the increasing wealth divide more throughly into the political sphere. Neo-Victorianism or something. The working class, literally called “wage-slaves” seemingly unironically in the article and their betters.

Not sure if this was the intention to say it like that.

For me, the interpretation is that when you have time to pursue your own interests, you discover something that is worth fighting for.

I had 2 months off a job and it was the happiest I have ever been because I spend it on researching and discovering problems that I care about. But it was due to the accessibility to "leisure"

Re: Quit Your Job

#412

Post by kirso »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #195
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #99

Great article. I can very much relate. I’ve been writing open-source software for a very long time. This was mostly because I earned my pay as a manager. The job paid … not great, but enough to keep the lights on, and to let me save. It also wasn’t particularly demanding, and gave me time for extracurricular coding. I needed to code, to keep my chops up. Even in “nights and weekends,” I was able to get some fairly se…

> These days, I work harder than I ever have in my life. I’m at my desk for at least eleven hours a day, seven days a week. Is this what makes you happy? A lot of people might criticize this as unhealthy. This statement does not contain a lot of "balance". Where's the exercise? Cooking for yourself? Socializing with others? Spending time with loved ones/family? Working on hobbies? I too am at my keyboard a lot. A lot…

Its only an addiction when you connect your identity to the outcome.

The problem is that when you are building something with just an expectation of contributing to the world or intrinsically, it doesn't hurt when you don't get 1000 active users but you are still working on it because you "want to".

I spend 80% of my free time on side things because I love learning and I am curious about the world and that makes me happy.

Socialising and exercise is the rest 20%...

Think balance is subjective for everyone but you can easily notice it when something just makes you miserable.

For instance when I am learning to code, the bugs and things that I don't understand are so freaking frustrating... but I keep going anyways because its interesting.

We are all writers of our own stories including balance I would say...

Re: Quit Your Job

#413

Post by shudza »

This reminds me of my 20yo self watching Fight Club for the first time. If you dont get the movie, you wont get this post, so dont bother arguing in the comments. Even still, the post kinda goes to far on some points, and uses a bit hard language for non native speakers (myself included).

Re: Quit Your Job

#414

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

smsm42 wrote: post #404
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not "literally Hitler" and "with no justification". So, a bad faith attack.

Yes "literally Hitler" - which you yourself admitted after some insistent prodding. And yes "no justification" - nothing in the article justified going strait into Nazi accusations. And I don't think a person who thinks it's ok to skirt the rules every time he wants should talk too much about "bad faith". But of course it all fits into the same "it's OK when I do it" mold, doesn't it?

> which you yourself admitted after some insistent prodding.

Rubbish. After repeated attempts to put words in my mouth, which I did not rise to, you just declare the result anyway and launch into the argument anyway. It's not going to uncover any truth is it, just divert attention.

Have a nice day!

Re: Quit Your Job

#416

Post by biwwy »

srcreigh wrote: post #300
40four wrote: post #235

I don’t know if the OP is the author of this article or not, but all I have to say I want to buy into the overall concept/ thesis. But the writing is so erratic and turbulent, it is really hard to follow the author’s train of thought. It feels like they are trying SO hard to come across as deep and intellectual, that they lost sight of how it comes across to the reader. It’s like they are trying to force as many ‘big…

The author is well read in philosophy, and the article (what I read in the first 1/4 or so) is a work of philosophy. I have a minor degree in philosophy. To me it is interesting and at a good pace. For example the author doesn't descend into shallow made up lingo, they aren't too formal or abstract, the ideas are organized into sections, there's a development of the ideas, there's poetic illustrations interleaved wit…

The author is pseudointellectual privileged douchebag.

Re: Quit Your Job

#417

Post by thelettere »

sangnoir wrote: post #391
thelettere wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did I say science? Many modern scientific disciplines are by their nature exclusionary because they require access to specialized equipment and space, so of course that's somewhat of an exception to my generality. And I say somewhat because historically a surprising number of breakthroughs did not happen in a lab, nor were discovered by professional scientists. I took a course in the history of science and tech…

It's polite to mark any substantive edits you make after posting. When I replied - your entire comment was just "Where did I say science?".

Apologies - I edited it apparently just before you replied, and I wasn't familiar with how to mark edits.

Re: Quit Your Job

#418

Post by slothtrop »

vindarel wrote: post #21
Traster wrote: post #5

I'm conflicted by this article. I'm sympathetic to it, but some things just really push past my BS meter. For example: >This is related to why man became stunted with the dawn of agriculture. We traded a life limited by the occasional violent struggle over bountiful surplus for a more predictable life limited by grinding labor after barely sufficient nutrition. Firstly, "man" or humanity did all of their greatest wor…

> Before agriculture, life wasn't bountiful. It was short and harsh We all have a linear view of evolution: nomadism -> agriculture -> villages -> cities => for all the better. And we think life was really not fun before agriculture. Yet, some authors (especially in the recent years, with the progress of archeology) will note that things are maybe not so clear, and that's fascinating. With agriculture, man was (possi…

> Just to say maybe it wasn't scarcity all year long.

Society changed very slowly historically speaking, so yes, there may have been long stretches of peace just as there have been even much later in some parts of the world. However if we understand the purpose of the agricultural revolution to be producing more bodies for warfaring/conquest and consequently leading to the creation of bureaucracy and Civilization (as Fukuyama would argue), then the incentive for which would have been driven by a keen awareness of scarcity and a history of violent warfare. It would be no small coincidence however that this take fruit largely in the fertile crescent before expanding out. Agriculture did sprout in the Americas too for instance (and the strife associated with it), but it came later.

Re: Quit Your Job

#419

Post by burntoutfire »

lhorie wrote: post #366
burntoutfire wrote: post #319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe being a waitress is not the worst thing in the world? Billions of people can only dream of being a waiter/waitress in LA, and the lifestyle that goes with it.

You need to look at things relative to something that makes sense in the context of the conversation. Obviously, it's better to be a barista in LA than a starving kid in a war zone, but the context here is that we're talking about people who want to be famous actors and can't, so they take on minimum wage jobs to survive until eventually bitter disillusionment hits.

These people are victims of today's culture, which glamorizes wealth and fame above all else... Before they realize that they've been duped, they waste many years of their lives.

Startup culture is similar BTW - people who take moonshots to try and become obscenely rich, only to realize (if they're in the tiny minority that succeeds) that having so much wealth is not really making much of a change in their life and they've spent important years of their lives focusing on stuff that's not important (see Notch's wailing on Twitter for an example of that realization).

Re: Quit Your Job

#420

Post by slothtrop »

chana_masala wrote: post #31
slothtrop wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I often see anarchists romanticizing primitive society with revisionist ideas about conflict and quality of life.

I've seen that too and agree. However to add some nuance as a somewhat anprim, the appeal to me is the raw simplicity of things and direct connection to so much of life. An analogy might be someone who is excited by writing assembly.

Speaking for myself, I've dreamed of simple labor when work gets frustrating, but I quickly tire and get bored of it when I do have it. In a state of "flow" however, there's no want for farm fantasies. The ideal for myself is a hobbyist means to work with my hands and turn my mind off - such as cooking, gardening.

I think for people like myself, the back-to-nature pursuits are reactionary ideas to stress or bullshit jobs. The appeal is emotional. In truth I have no interest in subsistence lifestyle.

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