Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours

Post by gohrt » Wed, Jul 10, 2013, 11:57 PM UTC

jtbigwoo wrote: post #140

enraged_camel wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fetishizing hard work is a purely American phenomenon. Like many other parts of American culture, it has to do with the country's Puritan roots. Back in England, the Puritans were entirely city people. Even those who lived on the countryside were not farmers. So when they came to America, they had to work extra hard to learn farming and adopt that lifestyle, which was made even more difficult by the fact that the soi…

There's theology behind it as well. Puritans believe in Calvinist predestination. In a nutshell, God has known you for eternity. God knows what's going to happen and what you're going to do. God decided whether you will be saved or not before you were born. Your salvation/damnation happens through God's grace, not through your good works. This presents a dilemma: Why be a good, hard-working citizen if you can't affec…

Post by dustingetz » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 12:06 AM UTC

edw519 wrote: post #19

For developers building something, the following are often true: Tweeting != Work TalkingAboutWork != Work Blogging != Work DoingSomethingInYourIDE does not necessarily = Work DoingSomethingInGithub does not necessarily = Work ThinkingButAppearingToBeDoingNothing may = Work Meetings != Work CodeReview may = Work Testing usually = Work DeliveringBuiltSoftware(AndItsPrerequisites) = Work HackerNews definitely != Work

Post by visakanv » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 12:41 AM UTC

ripter wrote: post #113

enraged_camel wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fetishizing hard work is a purely American phenomenon. Like many other parts of American culture, it has to do with the country's Puritan roots. Back in England, the Puritans were entirely city people. Even those who lived on the countryside were not farmers. So when they came to America, they had to work extra hard to learn farming and adopt that lifestyle, which was made even more difficult by the fact that the soi…

I'm pretty sure asian cultures also fetishize hard work. At least that's the impression I get from my Chinese, Koren, and Japanese co-workers.

Post by kamaal » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 3:12 AM UTC

enraged_camel wrote: post #74

rfnslyr wrote: post #3

When I worked at a large corporation, I nearly automated all of my work and I was called lazy. I'd do about an hour work a day, customize an existing script to process new data, then read for the remaining 6 hours. Co-workers called me a lazy nerd and proceeded to copy paste words into excel for 8 hours. Now I get to wake up at 12, smoke a joint, have a beer, take a shower, go for a walk with my dog, and then work on…

Fetishizing hard work is a purely American phenomenon. Like many other parts of American culture, it has to do with the country's Puritan roots. Back in England, the Puritans were entirely city people. Even those who lived on the countryside were not farmers. So when they came to America, they had to work extra hard to learn farming and adopt that lifestyle, which was made even more difficult by the fact that the soi…

Post by prodigal_erik » Thu, Jul 11, 2013, 5:41 AM UTC

semiel wrote: post #89

swamp40 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Social norms are a pendulum that swings back and forth every 100 years or so. At one end is 6 hours a day or 30 hrs a week, at the other end is work/sleep/repeat. Any less and a society can't function, any more and a person will physically break. Individually, you get the same shake every free man has had since the beginning. You climb the mountain until you don't feel like climbing anymore. Maybe you're hurt, maybe…

> Any less and a society can't function I disagree with this. There is simply less work to be done than there used to be, what with automated factories and powerful computers. We've somehow turned this into an "unemployment crisis", when by rights it ought to be a huge boon that means everyone can work less.