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Capitalism has bled into every aspect of our lives. Employees are 'resources', houses are 'assets', etc. I like capitalism for most things, but if left unregul

Capitalism has bled into every aspect of our lives. Employees are 'resources', houses are 'assets', etc. I like capitalism for most things, but if left unregulated, it really dehumanizes us.

bjornsing 7y ago
I wouldn’t pin that “employees are resources” thing on capitalism though. In my experience this view is not imposed by owners, but rather by power hungry mediocre project managers and the like lower down the org chart. I’ve come to see it as just a sad human instinct: some people get a kick out of talking/thinking about others as (their) tools. Capitalism probably keeps this instinct at bay better than most other systems, as it seems to me a fine way of destroying capital.
Ididntdothis 7y ago
In my company they started calling people ”resources” maybe two or three years ago. This felt always really dehumanizing to me but now almost everybody does it.
- sturgill 7y ago
  I don’t know the particulars of your company but this got me thinking. There is a necessary shift somewhere in the spectrum: [start up] —- [enterprise] where you don’t know everyone who works with you nor does everyone know you. Everyone is a cog in a wheel (even if they don’t fully appreciate it). Everything is a system and human capital is just one of many inputs that the business _should_ optimize. Companies that are too fat get replaced by ones that are lean, etc. For me, there is some comfort in knowing that I’m as replaceable as anyone else. It helps me deal more humanely with others when you have to fire/lay-off/reduce hours. And it helps remind me that my professional work isn’t the essence of my life; it’s just one component of my own personal system. It has to be optimized alongside family commitments, volunteer work, and my own faith-based pursuits. There is no benevolence in a system, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t act benevolently towards each other. It might sound crass, but you are unlikely to retire from your current job. And nor will your boss. In fact, one of my main focuses as a manager is to remind people of that fact along with this advice: when they start to feel the itch to move on, let me know if I can help them get experiences that will position them for the future. TLDR; the business doesn’t care about you, but hopefully as an executive those that report to me always feel that I have treated them with human empathy. Also, I strongly encourage you to build up your non-professional circles. Most of my closest friends are previously coworkers that I stay in touch with after one or the other inevitably moves on. We’re way past the point in time where the system is designed for pensions and 50 yr watches.
ipython 7y ago
My absolute biggest pet peeve along those lines is that we are all nothing but “consumers”. Words matter.
- pcmaffey 7y ago
  And users. It’s trivial but I always replace ‘user’ table with something like humans or players or creators. Because yes, words do matter.
  - test6554 7y ago
    Do you add a separate table for credentials held by applications?

Capitalism has bled into every aspect of our lives. Employees are 'resources', houses are 'assets', etc. I like capitalism for most things, but if left unregulated, it really dehumanizes us.

bjornsing 7y ago

I wouldn’t pin that “employees are resources” thing on capitalism though. In my experience this view is not imposed by owners, but rather by power hungry mediocre project managers and the like lower down the org chart. I’ve come to see it as just a sad human instinct: some people get a kick out of talking/thinking about others as (their) tools. Capitalism probably keeps this instinct at bay better than most other systems, as it seems to me a fine way of destroying capital.

Ididntdothis 7y ago

In my company they started calling people ”resources” maybe two or three years ago. This felt always really dehumanizing to me but now almost everybody does it.

sturgill 7y ago
I don’t know the particulars of your company but this got me thinking. There is a necessary shift somewhere in the spectrum: [start up] —- [enterprise] where you don’t know everyone who works with you nor does everyone know you. Everyone is a cog in a wheel (even if they don’t fully appreciate it). Everything is a system and human capital is just one of many inputs that the business _should_ optimize. Companies that are too fat get replaced by ones that are lean, etc. For me, there is some comfort in knowing that I’m as replaceable as anyone else. It helps me deal more humanely with others when you have to fire/lay-off/reduce hours. And it helps remind me that my professional work isn’t the essence of my life; it’s just one component of my own personal system. It has to be optimized alongside family commitments, volunteer work, and my own faith-based pursuits. There is no benevolence in a system, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t act benevolently towards each other. It might sound crass, but you are unlikely to retire from your current job. And nor will your boss. In fact, one of my main focuses as a manager is to remind people of that fact along with this advice: when they start to feel the itch to move on, let me know if I can help them get experiences that will position them for the future. TLDR; the business doesn’t care about you, but hopefully as an executive those that report to me always feel that I have treated them with human empathy. Also, I strongly encourage you to build up your non-professional circles. Most of my closest friends are previously coworkers that I stay in touch with after one or the other inevitably moves on. We’re way past the point in time where the system is designed for pensions and 50 yr watches.

ipython 7y ago

My absolute biggest pet peeve along those lines is that we are all nothing but “consumers”. Words matter.

pcmaffey 7y ago
And users. It’s trivial but I always replace ‘user’ table with something like humans or players or creators. Because yes, words do matter.
- test6554 7y ago
  Do you add a separate table for credentials held by applications?