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What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

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Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#111

Post by NicuCalcea »

wonderwonder wrote: post #55
ang_cire wrote: post #21

Because we see what's coming? Because we watched our careers go from being in service of an industry of tinkerers and designers, to being in service of the worst people attempting to maximize wealth extraction no matter the human cost? Because Snow Crash wasn't supposed to be the goal? Because our daily complicity in what's happening is also a daily reminder that we're not brave enough to be a Mangione? Take your pic…

[flagged]

A quarter of Americans (and 40% of young Americans) see Mangione favourably, so it definitely is a society thing.

https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/51189-presidential-pardons...

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#112

Post by pc86 »

ang_cire wrote: post #21

Because we see what's coming? Because we watched our careers go from being in service of an industry of tinkerers and designers, to being in service of the worst people attempting to maximize wealth extraction no matter the human cost? Because Snow Crash wasn't supposed to be the goal? Because our daily complicity in what's happening is also a daily reminder that we're not brave enough to be a Mangione? Take your pic…

"Not brave enough" to shoot an innocent person in the back and then run away?

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#113

Post by arendtio »

agys wrote: post #5

Side note: a half an hour call on a commute train (or in public spaces) is considered extremely rude in many parts of the world.

I think it depends not just on culture but also on the volume of the conversation. Some people manage to have a conversation when you can barely hear them; others seem to have a conversation with everyone on the train.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#114

Post by wonderwonder »

NicuCalcea wrote: post #111
wonderwonder wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

A quarter of Americans (and 40% of young Americans) see Mangione favourably, so it definitely is a society thing. https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/51189-presidential-pardons...

Be attractive Don't be unattractive

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#115

Post by kittikitti »

Objectively speaking, I'm less miserable than before, even though I am still miserable. I think it's because I always found Workism to be very cringe. Now that the workplace has a good amount of fascism mixed in, adherents to Workism realize their free trial is over. The price to pay is their soul.

I really enjoyed reading this article. Thank you for sharing.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#116

Post by salemh »

ang_cire wrote: post #21

Because we see what's coming? Because we watched our careers go from being in service of an industry of tinkerers and designers, to being in service of the worst people attempting to maximize wealth extraction no matter the human cost? Because Snow Crash wasn't supposed to be the goal? Because our daily complicity in what's happening is also a daily reminder that we're not brave enough to be a Mangione? Take your pic…

[dead]

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#117

Post by scottLobster »

NicuCalcea wrote: post #111
wonderwonder wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

A quarter of Americans (and 40% of young Americans) see Mangione favourably, so it definitely is a society thing. https://yougov.com/en-us/articles/51189-presidential-pardons...

The only reason in my mind to view Mangione unfavorably is that vigilante justice, however justified, does not result in a civilization anyone would want to live in. It's the same reason we can't just go around killing everyone in the Epstein files. It's not that they don't deserve it, it's that the resulting corrosion destroys the entire system, including the good parts.

If Mangione had killed the UHC CEO by being his insurer and denying his claim for cancer treatment that his doctor said he needed, nobody would be saying anything.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#118

Post by jonahrd »

pc86 wrote: post #75
lostaccount wrote: post #32

This is basically office space but for the modern era. Peter found happiness in construction work, but when something physical like that is your job… I don’t know. A lot of those guys have back pain, inflexible schedules, working in extreme weather, and the pay isn’t even that good. Is tech so bad? Or is the world of work broken?

> A lot of those guys have back pain, inflexible schedules, working in extreme weather, And a lot of them don't? A lot of people who work on a computer all day also have back pain and inflexible schedules. Hell, I'm sure a lot of knowledge workers in other countries work in places with no air conditioning, for example - not exactly "extreme" but not climate-controlled, either.

There are definitely downsides to office work, but this post really implies to me that you don't actually personally know anyone who works in the trades. The amount of body pain/damage, extreme conditions, and ridiculous scheduling (as in, last minute decisions that you must be on site at 5:30am the next day, not as in overall hours) are pretty much incomparable to tech work.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#119

Post by arendtio »

I think we shouldn't be depressed, but work on ideas and concepts of how this could be changed into something good.

I see a lot of people hyping AI and condemning it, but very few seem to be interested in working on what our future should look like.

Re: What happens if an entire class of workers loses faith in their careers

#120

Post by Der_Einzige »

ComputerPerson wrote: post #42
olooney wrote: post #18

Scholars and academics have been bemoaning the pointlessness of what the article calls "knowledge work" for centuries. A few of my favorites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Scholar https://andrewmbailey.com/papers/Higher-order%20truths%20abo...

There's a well-known book that labels programmers as a specific type of pointless job. "Duct tapers" is the category. Also task masters, who would have a foot under the software development umbrella, have space in the book. "Bullshit Jobs" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs

We are socially punished for our extremely cushy jobs

SWE has negative social value. Saying you’re a SWE or god forbid anything in AI in a dating/courtship context is basically suicide.

We are paid so well as compensation for debasing ourselves socially. A lot of normies intuitively understand the concepts in that book even without reading it and either see you as evil or a grifter, maybe both, when you say you work in tech/AI.

A lot of people are going to have extreme schadenfreud as they watch tech workers take L after L. They really hate us, they want us bullied or dead or wishing we were.

Still, it was totally worth it because the blue collar pricks that dislike tech workers are even worse in so many ways. At least I’m not a shitty construction worker responsible for contributing to the pathetic state that our housing industry is in.

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