Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

You are not your job

jry.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 443 posts

Re: You are not your job

#211

Post by tock »

Tor3 wrote: post #176

The focus on "what you do" is very US-centric (or possibly North American). When you meet someone then one of the very first things asked is "what do you do" or something to that extent. What your job is. But it's not like that at all elsewhere in the world. It varies a lot. I myself never ask that question, unless it's for a very specific reason. And _never_ as part of an introduction. I've known people for decades…

Not surprised because most people in the world only have time to work/commute/sleep. Stuff like hobbies, sabbaticals, vacations, etc are quite rare. I've only seen the contrary when I met Europeans.

Re: You are not your job

#212

Post by keiferski »

Kind of bizarre how Fight Club was so influential a couple decades ago, but doesn’t seem to have much cultural impact today. This exact theme is one of the most memorable quotes from the movie.

Too counter-cultural and anti-money for today’s young people, I think. Everyone’s trying to make it, not drop out of society.

Re: You are not your job

#213

Post by supriyo-biswas »

Tor3 wrote: post #176

The focus on "what you do" is very US-centric (or possibly North American). When you meet someone then one of the very first things asked is "what do you do" or something to that extent. What your job is. But it's not like that at all elsewhere in the world. It varies a lot. I myself never ask that question, unless it's for a very specific reason. And _never_ as part of an introduction. I've known people for decades…

One of the things people in the US like to do is to take some thing that's being negatively talked about and spin that into a thing that only people in the US do, whereas this aspect exists in many cultures, such as in India (speaking from experience) or China (from my understanding of their culture, and some Youtubers producing content around the social dynamics of this).

Re: You are not your job

#214

Post by JuniperMesos »

> When Bronnie Ware interviewed people at the end of their lives, she asked them about their regrets. The clearest pattern wasn't hard to see. Nobody was lying on their deathbed wishing they'd earned more money or accomplished more.

I'm reminded of the story of the great manga artist Tezuka Osamu, who, as he was dying of stomach cancer in a hospital bed at the end of his life, begged to be given a pencil to let him continue his work. Granted, not everyone is Tezuka. But many people have work they care greatly about accomplishing, even at the end of their lives.

Re: You are not your job

#215

Post by 4gotunameagain »

keiferski wrote: post #212

Kind of bizarre how Fight Club was so influential a couple decades ago, but doesn’t seem to have much cultural impact today. This exact theme is one of the most memorable quotes from the movie. Too counter-cultural and anti-money for today’s young people, I think. Everyone’s trying to make it, not drop out of society.

Capitalism has done with youth cultures what capitalism does best : dissolved them into irrelevance and monetisation.

A new movement ? What a great opportunity to create and sell cheap merch, turning it into a joke.

When everything in life is about money and profit, we lose our humanity.

Take a look at the "cultural leaders" of kids these days. It is disheartening.

Re: You are not your job

#216

Post by amiga386 »

wolvesechoes wrote: post #200
BobbyJo wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> To be fair, growing your own food is incredibly inefficient Life is not an optimization problem.

However, had we not tried optimising, Malthus would be right and we'd all be dead.

So let's hear it for optimisation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Agricultural_Revolutio...

Re: You are not your job

#217

Post by keiferski »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #215
keiferski wrote: post #212

Kind of bizarre how Fight Club was so influential a couple decades ago, but doesn’t seem to have much cultural impact today. This exact theme is one of the most memorable quotes from the movie. Too counter-cultural and anti-money for today’s young people, I think. Everyone’s trying to make it, not drop out of society.

Capitalism has done with youth cultures what capitalism does best : dissolved them into irrelevance and monetisation. A new movement ? What a great opportunity to create and sell cheap merch, turning it into a joke. When everything in life is about money and profit, we lose our humanity. Take a look at the "cultural leaders" of kids these days. It is disheartening.

That’s a part of it but I don’t think it’s really that external. I think people in general, themselves, are just less interested in the counter cultural ethos. It doesn’t feel to me like anti-consumerist cultural movements are being founded and then co-opted by commerce. Rather they aren’t being founded at all, and if they are, it’s just some lazy online thing with no actual real-world presence.

Re: You are not your job

#218

Post by sph »

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...

Good god, serious life advice targeted at young men (but applicable to anybody) before the manosphere, incels and culture wars took over. Unimaginable stuff today. What a relic.

Re: You are not your job

#219

Post by david-gpu »

ehnto wrote: post #123
david-gpu wrote: post #38

Agreed with the title and some of the broad sentiment, but two things stood out. > I can't delegate my capacity to sit with someone when they're confused or scared or just need to feel known Plenty of people rely on therapists and/or chat bots to listen to them. Not everybody feels comfortable burdening their friends and family with their problems. > We possess the means to care for everyone -- yet choose not to Ther…

The tax base shrinks but does company revenue shrink? History so far says no, so perhaps that's where we can look for the tax dollars.

> The tax base shrinks but does company revenue shrink?

Capital is highly mobile globally. As corporate taxation becomes higher in a region, production in that region becomes less competitive globally. Companies, in turn, outsource their production elsewhere.

It is not a simple problem to solve. There are good reasons why the status quo is what it is.

Re: You are not your job

#220

Post by pdimitar »

titanomachy wrote: post #204
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…

Our society used to have religious beliefs that put special value on human lives / souls / whatever. Now for many people, capitalism and materialism is the only religion, and in this religion humans are reduced to their dollar value. But you should recognize that this is not a neutral choice: you have in fact chosen one of many possible value systems, and others may choose differently. Much of human behavior is not e…

Zero to do with religion, I knew quite a lot of atheists / agnostics who were extremely wholesome and caring people.
Post reply on HN