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You weren't meant to have a boss (2008)

paulgraham.com

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Re: You weren't meant to have a boss (2008)

#161

Post by xeiotos »

jimbokun wrote: post #114
xeiotos wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I concur the analogy misses this reason for teaming up in large groups completely. All our current advances are the direct result of working in large, communicating groups, which crucially need a way to transfer knowledge across generations. The YouTube channel “How to make everything” comes to mind, where the resources, processes, machinery… required make it tricky for something as mundane as a hairdryer to be built…

Well that’s simply a question of whether we are at a point yet where we can implement UBI and provide for everyone’s needs and wants without requiring anyone to work. I don’t think the robots are at that point yet.

I’m a big fan of the idea of UBI, but I somewhat doubt we’ll ever get there. But I’m neither convinced we need to get there in the first place, or need robots to achieve it. Post-scarcity is a different beast than UBI. Still, both might be good “pyramids”.

I’m not an economist nor well-read on the subject, so I’ll have to be hand-wavy on the specifics. But one alternative at least is to “live with less” as is sometimes said. To change consumption and our way of life so radically we just need less of everything (labour, material, …).

Re: You weren't meant to have a boss (2008)

#162

Post by rglullis »

WalterBright wrote: post #155
fragmede wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Apollo program wouldn't have happened without Sputnik and against the backdrop of the Cold War. Getting to the moon is cool and all but the subtle hint to the Soviets is "we have ICBMs".

The US had ICBMs in the 1950s. The Saturn V was not an ICBM. Staging was not necessary for ICBMs. None of the lunar landing module and equipment was usable for military purposes. NASA was run by civilians, not the military.

Run by civilians, but the funding would never come if the government didn't have military interest.

Re: You weren't meant to have a boss (2008)

#163

Post by wolvesechoes »

voakbasda wrote: post #53
antipurist wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not aware of any relevant research, but to answer the "So what can we do about it?" question I have a wild idea: invert the power structure, with cooperative of workers hiring their managers instead of managers hiring workers. And no, this doesn't automatically lead to the same tree, just inverted, it could form a much flatter structure. I imagine that a cooperative can hire a person who measures the value genera…

Don’t stop with work. Governments need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Local first, with taxes flowing there first, and only then do they start to trickle up to the county, state, regional, or federal levels. Central governments should be emergent properties of local systems working together, not a choke point of all power and taxation revenue. The current system is completely backwards, if democracy and representa…

Reminder that Greeks were right and representative democracy is not democracy at all, but another form of oligarchy.

Re: You weren't meant to have a boss (2008)

#164

Post by stabbles »

smsm42 wrote: post #98
jjulius wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's flawed criticism because it's rooted in an all-or-nothing perspective.

No, it doesn't have to be all-or-nothing. The flaw in the Graham's argument is that he argues we should prefer "natural" without first proving "natural" means "good". Bubonic plague is very natural, but not so good, right? That doesn't have to be all or nothing, but each time somebody says "do X not Y because X is more natural", we ought to ask "but does natural here mean good?". Sometimes it does - eating an apple i…

David Hume pointed this out in 1740, and his advise still applies:

    A reason should be given, for what seems altogether inconceivable, how this new relation can be a deduction from others, which are entirely different from it. But as authors do not commonly use this precaution, I shall presume to recommend it to the readers.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Treatise_of_Human_Nature/Book...

Re: You weren't meant to have a boss (2008)

#165

Post by theknarf »

dentemple wrote: post #34

Without a firm proposal of what a company can or should do instead, this just becomes another example of complaints being easier to make than actual solutions. We all know that large corps are structured in a way that eliminates individual initiative. So what can we do about it? I've heard of "hierarchy-less" company structures being attempted before. I've also heard that each and every one of those attempts always e…

Yes, its called Team Topologies.

Re: You weren't meant to have a boss (2008)

#166

Post by fragmede »

WalterBright wrote: post #155
fragmede wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Apollo program wouldn't have happened without Sputnik and against the backdrop of the Cold War. Getting to the moon is cool and all but the subtle hint to the Soviets is "we have ICBMs".

The US had ICBMs in the 1950s. The Saturn V was not an ICBM. Staging was not necessary for ICBMs. None of the lunar landing module and equipment was usable for military purposes. NASA was run by civilians, not the military.

https://wamu.org/story/18/09/12/neil-degrasse-tyson-says-sci...

Don't take my word for it, Neil Degrasse Tyson says "The Apollo 11 Moon Landing Wasn’t Really About Science"

Re: You weren't meant to have a boss (2008)

#168

Post by forshaper »

dentemple wrote: post #34

Without a firm proposal of what a company can or should do instead, this just becomes another example of complaints being easier to make than actual solutions. We all know that large corps are structured in a way that eliminates individual initiative. So what can we do about it? I've heard of "hierarchy-less" company structures being attempted before. I've also heard that each and every one of those attempts always e…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission-type_tactics

Disasters and the initial push of any war show what is possible. Like the playbook is already know. Strict hierarchy with decision making power at the bottom. This may sound contradictory, sure.

However, it works like this: the top sets a goal, the bottom decides how to get it done. Person closest to the problem then leads.

We know it works. It happens every time a large group -needs- to use it.

However, as soon as things get stable, large orgs go right back to rigid central control.

Re: You weren't meant to have a boss (2008)

#169

Post by bumby »

WalterBright wrote: post #155
fragmede wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Apollo program wouldn't have happened without Sputnik and against the backdrop of the Cold War. Getting to the moon is cool and all but the subtle hint to the Soviets is "we have ICBMs".

The US had ICBMs in the 1950s. The Saturn V was not an ICBM. Staging was not necessary for ICBMs. None of the lunar landing module and equipment was usable for military purposes. NASA was run by civilians, not the military.

NASA is a prestige organization. If there isn’t a peer rival there is little to gain from funding that prestige. Whether that is for the betterment of society is up for debate.

Re: You weren't meant to have a boss (2008)

#170

Post by mizzao »

k_plankenhorn wrote: post #29

Reading this the day before I launch my own product. I built it over several months while working full time. The work I do on my own thing feels completely different than the work I do for someone else. One drains me. The other makes me feel like myself. Tomorrow I find out of the product works.

Good luck, and please don't be discouraged if it takes 20 launches to figure out what works! That's completely normal.
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