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You are not your job

jry.io

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Re: You are not your job

#221

Post by pdimitar »

taffronaut wrote: post #203
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'd respectfully challenge that your opinion reflects reality. Nihilism [1] is just one philosophy amongst many. It's no more 'the one truth' than any of the others. Many of the other philosophies have evolved in the light of folks living for centuries through harsher reality than most of us are experiencing today. You might consider other philosophies to be delusional (as others consider nihilism to be delusional),…

Philosophy is the theory and we are discussing the practice here. Be a non-nihilist; belong to any school of thought you like.

Ultimately, out there, people value you by just 5-6 things and almost never they are your beliefs or personal values.

So your respectful challenge seems to be missing the point. Your beliefs are not challenged here. But you cannot change how other people value you.

Re: You are not your job

#222

Post by david-gpu »

block_dagger wrote: post #59

One's job and the rest of one's life are not clearly delineated. Best friends and spouses are often met through work, which is inexplicably linked with one's actual performance on the job. This article treats them as if they are isolated. Also, it's worth noting that one's sense of purpose (as in career) is important to happiness, just as being part of a strong social network in one's personal life is. Balance is key…

Some retirees struggle with meaning in the absence of work. Most adapt just fine. Work is not the meaning of life for most people.

Re: You are not your job

#223

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

hinkley wrote: post #37
vrganj wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have found that aphorism does not ring true for me. “Do what you love for work, and you'll stop loving it" seems more true to me. It always eventually turns into a chore once it is a thing you need to do.

IMO, there are more steps. Do what you love for work, someone will exploit you for it, and break your heart. One of my kids has taken this advice, does art (really good art) for themselves and is pursuing a STEM career instead. The other is pursuing a game dev career, despite every current and former dev in his life warning him off for the last fifteen years. To quote Kissing Jessica Stein, “OY! This child will suffe…

Back in the day, I was a fairly good artist[0]. I was good enough to get work, and pursue a career, although I don’t know how successful I would have been.

Fortunately, I also really enjoyed tech, and figured that even a mediocre programmer would do better than a top-shelf fantasy artist. Back then (hard to believe, these days), competition was a lot less prevalent, in tech, and was brutal, in art.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40917886

Re: You are not your job

#224

Post by sph »

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…

> The cold reality, in my opinion, is that the things we value about ourselves are generally not that valuable to others. 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.

A good example of what tribes did better vs civilization: if you can do anything to help the tribe survive (I am a good hunter, you can create good bows), you are a prized member. If you can't do anything, at least we still love you because you are kin.

Re: You are not your job

#225

Post by svessi »

My father in law lost his job 2 years ago, completely unrelated to AI, at the age of 63. He had worked this same job since he was 18 and it was his identity. He'd almost greet people with "Hey I'm CEO, my friends and family call me X".

Being fired from his own company completely destroyed him - and not because he's worried about the financial aspect, he doesn't need to worry about that at this point.

I remember watching him go though this and thinking to myself "Jeeze, I'm glad my identity isn't completely tied up with what I do for work".

With AI knocking on the door I'm surprised how much my identity and perceived self-worth is actually tied to being a "good" developer. But it's more of a slow burner than what my father in law got. So I at least have some time to mentally prepare for my new reality.

Re: You are not your job

#226

Post by dinkumthinkum »

The OP says he is going to "do other things" and clicking the link reveals a bike tour across the coast of California. How quaint. These articles always seem like they are trying to dismiss some fantasy of reader or chide them to have the right perspective and basically boil down to say "Why are you so obsessed with work? Go outside, have fun. You Americans are so serious!" But all of this betrays the fact that is the writer of such articles that appears to be extremely naive. I think it is very clear that these people actually believe in this UBI fantasy world or mathematical mysticism. The "other things" that he would be more likely to be doing would be to be hunting and foraging for food and not hunting with ammunition because that is expensive and he won't have money for that. It's so delusional and sort of pompous at the same time. Just my take.

Re: You are not your job

#227

Post by krapp »

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.

Fight Club came out almost 30 years ago. Most young people have probably never heard of it.

Also there's no such thing as "counterculture" in a world where culture isn't manufactured and controlled by some central authority. When there was only physical media and a few tv stations, "culture" was a fixed point one could obviously align with or against. Today in the post-internet non cultural milieu, anti-capitalist and anti-work ideals are everywhere but they just don't stand out the way the hippies did back in the day.

Re: You are not your job

#228

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: You are not your job

#229

Post by sph »

mentalgear wrote: post #194

Strange how yet nobody commented on the irony of having an article titled "You are not your job" starting with: > I'm Jacob - I run Sancho Studio a software consulting studio - I write about cryptography, craft, and human experience. Basically opening with who they are as defined by their job.

When in Rome... he's talking to a modern audience that are defined by, and evaluate other people by their job.

Re: You are not your job

#230

Post by missingdays »

serial_dev wrote: post #206
helloplanets wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We are in fact very disposable and replaceable. To your friends and family as well? Or just your employer? You're describing things that may well be true for a lot of employers, but fall apart outside of that context.

For some rare once-in-a-lifetime friendships, you are not disposable, and if anything were to happen to you, you would be missed. I can count those on one hand. For most casual acquaintances (that some people incorrectly label as friends), it's certainly true. On the family's side: only parents, siblings, children, maybe some aunt or grandparent. Second distant cousin you saw 3 times in life?

Is that not enough?
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