The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to “The Office” (2009) • Hacker News Board

Re: The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to “The Office” (2009)

#171

Post by Singletoned » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 8:49 PM UTC

the_af wrote: post #166

lukas099 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Clueless is the person who actually believes his work makes a difference and wants to do a good job. Not necessarily a terrible way to live, although it should be acknowledged that the Loser frees up time and energy to devote to other things, notably family.

(According to the theory) it is a terrible way to live, because everything the Clueless believes is false. The Clueless believe their work makes a difference, but it doesn't. They believe it matters they do a good job, but it doesn't truly matter except for the advancement and power plays of the Sociopaths. They believe themselves "company men", and are loyal to a company that despises them and sees them as completel…

You are assuming that there's something bad about everything you believe being false. There's a fair amount of evidence that it's a good thing. EG religious people being happier and living longer

Re: The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to “The Office” (2009)

#172

Post by ajkjk » Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 10:30 PM UTC

zoeysmithe wrote: post #170

ajkjk wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the ableist angle here..?

Blaming the failings of capitalism on the mentally ill. This is just capitalism, it cannot be any different, this is fundamental to it.

That's absurd. First because nobody uses the word 'sociopath' to mean 'mentally ill', they are using it as a moral judgment / to describe a type of amoral person. Second because the reason one negatively characterized the mechanisms of capitalism is because they are not, like, immutable laws of the universe, but rather things that society has quite a bit of control over (whether or not it currently knows how to exercise that control).

(incidentally I disagree with the sociopath characterization anyway; I'm just contesting the weird use of the word ableist)

Re: The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to “The Office” (2009)

#173

Post by PaulDavisThe1st » Sat, Mar 14, 2026, 5:03 PM UTC

asdfasvea wrote: post #139

wavemode wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the use of "literally" here, and the use of quotes, meant to be taken literally (as in, he literally said this)? Or is this the sense of "literally" which actually means "figuratively"?

I love that we ruined our escape character in language. We now need a new way to convey to listeners that our words need to be taken literally. Perhaps the VBA method and just double the 'literally's: I took a flaming shot of tequila and my mouth is literally literally on fire

The escape term is "actually". "My mouth is actually on fire".

Re: The Gervais Principle, or the Office According to “The Office” (2009)

#174

Post by lukas099 » Tue, Mar 17, 2026, 2:35 PM UTC

tsunamifury wrote: post #168

lukas099 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, the frugal option is quite often the cooler, more fulfilling one: - riding a bike instead of driving (makes you fitter, hotter, increases mating potential) - cooking food (impressive to friends and potential mates, makes you and your family healthier) - building furniture, tech stuff, whatever (your stuff is customized to your own tastes and situation) - playing music in a band (get paid for a Saturd…

"just build your furniture and suddenly you'll have millions in the bank" Guy... come on, he was talking about smug money FIRE types not 'living a meaningful life'. in fact they are usually the types that have no friends because it's expensive.

FIRE types are exactly the people who do the things I said. And no, you won't suddenly have millions but you will eventually have millions.