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You are not your job

jry.io

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Re: You are not your job

#131

Post by encrypted_bird »

tim-tday wrote: post #3

50% of your waking hours are spent at work. The person you are revolves around your working hours, the problems you solve the concerns you have, the money you make the persona you display at work. Saying you are not your work is wishful thinking. Try giving it up and check in on how much of you is still the same. Maybe you wish to be more than your working self. That’s honorable and desirable. Just declaring it isn’t…

I only ever feel like "me" when I'm not at work. I work in retail, and every minute I'm at that job I feel my soul dying just that little bit more. But I go there because I like to not starve, which by the way I've done and lemme tell ya: it ain't fun.

Re: You are not your job

#132

Post by Eridrus »

tim-tday wrote: post #3

50% of your waking hours are spent at work. The person you are revolves around your working hours, the problems you solve the concerns you have, the money you make the persona you display at work. Saying you are not your work is wishful thinking. Try giving it up and check in on how much of you is still the same. Maybe you wish to be more than your working self. That’s honorable and desirable. Just declaring it isn’t…

Beyond this, you are what you do.

And you are what you do for other people.

Besides providing support and entertainment for our friends and families, the concrete things we do that bring value to society are through our jobs.

Society doesn't run on hanging out or hobbies.

Re: You are not your job

#133

Post by waingake »

A small correction to this, your friends don't really like you due to any desirable attribute you have, its not an exchange process. They like you for your you-ness.

Think about a friend, what is it you like about them? I think you will find that it's not a series of attributes, but a rather unquantifiable them ness - you like the fact they are uniquely them, this is how you are seen as well. You're enough.

Re: You are not your job

#135

Post by BobbyJo »

throwaway-11-1 wrote: post #126
abcde666777 wrote: post #122

Being able to see ourselves as something beyond our job (our means of survival) is a luxury. If a person can't provide for themselves the rest goes out the window fast. The only way to ease the anxiety in people isn't with fluff about their 'human worth', but rather to help them envision other tangible and plausible ways in which they can provide for themselves. The cold reality, in my opinion, is that the things we…

They aren’t valuable to markets, but like I have neighbors who are treasured by the community and genuinely bring joy to everyone. But no, I guess they aren’t economically important. I actually don’t like how every soul has been reduced to an efficiency metric, surprised how much I find forums like this accept that framing.

> But no, I guess they aren’t economically important. I actually don’t like how every soul has been reduced to an efficiency metric, surprised how much I find forums like this accept that framing.

Efficiency is the metric of nature. Thinking about human life in any other terms than input and output is objectively a luxury, afforded only to societies with surplus resources. Calling it "framing" feels a little disingenuous.

Re: You are not your job

#136

Post by BobbyJo »

encrypted_bird wrote: post #130
abcde666777 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True as well. I've had similar communal experiences where you get a taste of the old way, the way humans would have operated when we lived in tribes. And on that level I think we are capable of valuing each other as beings - the instinct to look out for each other kicks in. But this modern society we live in... it's just not structured that way anymore. Most of us live in little silos now: our job and our atomic fami…

> Your average person doesn't know how to grow their own food And, you know the sad part? A lot of places don't allow you to even try to learn. For example, my current place that I rent has a yard (it's a nice little trailer home), but I'm not allowed to have a garden. They even chopped down the nice tree that was growing in the yard when I first moved in. Oh, I can certainly try to grow stuff inside in containers, b…

To be fair, growing your own food is incredibly inefficient. Agriculture is one of the places where economies of scale shine very very brightly.

Re: You are not your job

#137

Post by mathieuh »

abcde666777 wrote: post #122

Being able to see ourselves as something beyond our job (our means of survival) is a luxury. If a person can't provide for themselves the rest goes out the window fast. The only way to ease the anxiety in people isn't with fluff about their 'human worth', but rather to help them envision other tangible and plausible ways in which they can provide for themselves. The cold reality, in my opinion, is that the things we…

Isn't this exactly Marx's criticism of capitalism through the theory of alienation? Human relationships get mediated and hidden as relationships between commodities and money.

Re: You are not your job

#138

Post by beeflet »

>But warmth. Empathy. The ability to sit with someone in their confusion and make them feel understood. The ability to crack a joke at exactly the right moment and remind someone that they're not alone. The capacity to be fully present with another person, to see them not as a role they're playing but as a whole human being… that cannot be automated away and hopefully never will.

Yeah it can. People have been using LLMs as therapists and digital friends for a while now. All of the soft skills were the first to get automated.

> My technical skills are being disrupted by machines - that's fine I'll go do other things.

Oh yeah? What exactly?

Re: You are not your job

#139

Post by collingreen »

tombert wrote: post #114
zinodaur wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

Parent is resentful of America and their perception of Americans taking for granted how much easier it is to get an American tech job.

There is no rah rah here; literally says in next comment how Americans have their (American's) boots on their (parent's) neck.

Re: You are not your job

#140

Post by beeflet »

throwaway-11-1 wrote: post #126
abcde666777 wrote: post #122

Being able to see ourselves as something beyond our job (our means of survival) is a luxury. If a person can't provide for themselves the rest goes out the window fast. The only way to ease the anxiety in people isn't with fluff about their 'human worth', but rather to help them envision other tangible and plausible ways in which they can provide for themselves. The cold reality, in my opinion, is that the things we…

They aren’t valuable to markets, but like I have neighbors who are treasured by the community and genuinely bring joy to everyone. But no, I guess they aren’t economically important. I actually don’t like how every soul has been reduced to an efficiency metric, surprised how much I find forums like this accept that framing.

You and your neighbors might mutually provide joy for each other, but there is a third party in this exchange: the massive industrial complex that provides the food and shelter you need to live. Unfortunately the industrial complex does not accept joy as a form of payment, so this whole system isn't going to work out.
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