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You are not your job

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Re: You are not your job

#181

Post by stuxnet79 »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #155
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…

Reminds me of a very old essay on Cracked that says something very similar: https://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-y...

An old classic. Thanks for reminding me about this article.

Re: You are not your job

#182

Post by krystalgamer »

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…

it's a very modern idea, too. historically people names were associated with their profession.

for the op, it might not define you but it does define you for others.

Re: You are not your job

#183

Post by thn-gap »

logicchains wrote: post #175
oytis wrote: post #49

People don't need self-help advise, they need a fair redistribution of increased productivity. We don't make a big deal of our jobs because we are stupid - it's the society that assigns this or that income to this or that job, and income determines lifestyle or in worst case the survival.

>People don't need self-help advise, they need a fair redistribution of increased productivity. The increased productivity is pretty much entirely coming from AI researchers and the companies investing in huge amounts of GPUs, and they are the ones receiving most of the windfalls, how's that not fair?

The biggest contribution is still from the training set, whose original authors get 0 because of "fair use" in the copyright.

Re: You are not your job

#184

Post by Tor3 »

jazz9k wrote: post #28
garciasn wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am arguably a successful employee in a tech-focused role. I enjoy my job and others seem to feel I'm good at what I do. That said: I am NOT at all interested in identifying myself in social situations by my job. When someone asks what I do, I respond that I work in tech. I am not interested in giving more details nor talking in-depth about what I do to others I have just met. Why? Because that's not at all what mak…

Do you have any friends? Your job is a good topic that allows you to find something in common with another person.

As the sister comment said: "Not if they work outside of tech…" And not even then, in many cases. I know exactly what I do, but having to explain that to anyone, including people in tech, is difficult.

And, you know, it's not interesting to talk about. Talking about that is fine at the job, that's what we do. I have no interest in talking about that when I'm not working. Instead I want to talk about other things. Hobbies, activities, music, books, whatever. Enquring about someone's job will not lead to that at all.

Re: You are not your job

#185

Post by hunter67 »

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…

> I love my own personality and humanity, my soul if you will, but nobody's paying me for it, and so I have to value it accordingly.

Don't let capitalism do this to you. Not everything with value is paid in this system, only things which make the buyer more money.

Re: You are not your job

#186

Post by pjerem »

ainiriand wrote: post #162

Since the beginning of human history, people have always defined themselves by what they contribute to the group; a hunter, a farmer, a king... Today is no different. We may not be our job, but that is how others see us at first. They are not trying to get to know you; they just want to know where you fit, so they know how to deal with you. Only later, if things get personal, might they become interested in you as a…

> but that is how others see us at first

Well I think it's nothing more than a social norm, and an easy one to avoid at that. People are mostly asking what's your job because that's a standard icebreaker.

Since I (mostly) recovered from burnout, and learnt that I'm actually not my job, I took the habit to never automatically ask people what is their job, at least not for ice breaking.

You can talk about their hobbies, their kids, their tastes ... because those are the real topics that will define if you bond or not anyway. And yes some people sometimes do have an interesting job that is worth talking about but when it happens, you will inevitably talk about it anyway.

Re: You are not your job

#187

Post by adrianN »

johnisgood wrote: post #172
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…

BTW YouTubers get paid for... generally themselves alone. I mean come on, many are getting paid for reacting to other people's videos. Wild.

Many more don’t get paid at all.

Re: You are not your job

#189

Post by 1234letshaveatw »

cermicelli wrote: post #95
block_dagger wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Within a few years I think UBI or UBS will be required for people to continue living, in which case basic needs (bills) won't be a concern. There's just no way for us to transition fast enough to avoid high unemployment as AI replaces large swaths of jobs. I do worry about the ~10 year transition it will take for societal governments to react.

Only way UBI works is if the govts increase taxes on all income or any income to almost 90%+... And then re-distribute to each person accordingly. That ain't happening, no govt will be willing to try that, and rich won't let that happen, they will become slightly rich from very rich. that just ain't happening.

If we are able to fill our storefronts with magnificent AI creations for cents on the dollar, would that be profitable enough for the producers to pay enough tax to cover UBI? Producers would still face pricing pressure to lower margins to eat up all those productivity gains. Every path forward seems very uncertain
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