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A great deal of civil servant jobs fall into that category of yours. A lot of jobs which could be classed as bullshit exist, formalized as 'jobs' because of so
by bachbach 8y ago
A great deal of civil servant jobs fall into that category of yours.
A lot of jobs which could be classed as bullshit exist, formalized as 'jobs' because of something missing from somewhere else.
Robin Hanson estimate half of US medical costs are not physical but people needing moral support/reassurance from others, dare I say if people feel unloved they crave attention?
Another cause of bullshit jobs is sometimes moral responsibility. Who looks after the severely autistic and those born crippled? One perspective is that these are bullshit jobs because, like the Icelandic policy demonstrates, it is strictly speaking possible to prevent some classes of these people from being born. Other people are going to be angry to hear that, since those jobs obviously involve a lot of effort and stress and they would think them the archetype of useful work.
I can understand that position but if your job exists mostly because of fetal alcohol syndrome then the moral high ground is due to be hit by tremors in the next economic crisis.
This is the kind of thing we don't like to talk about much but, and I'm sure I'm delusional, but reasonable people could hash out sane solutions to prevent most harm.
tldr; Bullshit jobs are going to exist on the contours of subjects we find to be touchy or gooey. This is why wedding planners exist.
- lovich 8y agoI think, barring sociopaths, most people don't think taking care of the disabled is a bullshit job. A bullshit job is one that you know a tool exists already that could do your entire job. A bullshit job is one where you know the entire output of your work is thrown away or ignored
- geodel 8y agoAnd what is output of keeping severely disabled people or animals alive. I think the entire output is to feel good about it.
- disabilities 8y agoI worked with people with disabilities. It was frustrating but life-changing. People with disabilities value different things and even though they don't have outward "success" in the eyes of society, they have tremendous heart. I've never been the same since working with them. It exposed a lot of my own "disabilities" trying to relate to people. The writings of Jean Vanier has a lot about this... https://www.larche.org.uk/ https://www.larche.org.uk/
- lovich 8y agoWhat's the output of keeping you alive when you retire? It's a value we have on it's own, not something we do because it has an economic benefit. Like I said, I think only sociopaths would look at keeping the disabled alive, or helping them day to day, as a bullshit job
- bachbach 8y agoI understand where you're coming from lovich but our morally as a group appears mostly contingent on our prosperity. It's easy for us to cast moral judgement but when we're in a fix - values are frequently flung onto the pyre without a second thought. The new normal becomes normal (with accompanying stories) and anybody who questions the shift is a reactionary. We should be asking ourselves deeper questions before we have these issues so we don't buy into the herd consensus.