Yes, this. It's not even limited to "patent offices" (which I take to mean places of menial labor). I know people even in supposedly high-value intellectual wo

Yes, this. It's not even limited to "patent offices" (which I take to mean places of menial labor). I know people even in supposedly high-value intellectual workplaces (like academia, where I am) who don't find any value in their work but stay in it for completely external reasons which have nothing to do with knowledge-generation (family/PI/societal expectations, fear of disappointing others, fear of being unprepared for the 'real world'). I agree with the point that it's the pressure to do anything that keeps people[1] in shitty lifestyles. [1]: using "people" to mean those who have sufficient privilege to have the flexibility to choose their work. edit: word