4 ms·

Can you provide an example of a bullshit job?

by seibelj 5y ago

xracy 5y ago
Did you read the article?
- seibelj 5y ago
  Yes! However, as stated in the article, earning currency or items in videogames and reselling them have been around since the earliest days of online gaming. Plus these people are entrepreneurs working for themselves. I'm really not getting the link.
  - xracy 5y ago
    "In Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, David Graeber makes the case that a sizable chunk of the labour economy is essentially people performing useless work." I would treat a bullshit job as any job/living that requires you to do useless work. How do you define "useless work"?
  - all2well 5y ago
    Something like Axie Infinity just seems _incredibly_ cynical. I sometimes joke that stuff like professional sports are just financial instruments, which only incidentally involve a ball of some sort. Play-to-earn and many crypto schemes seem to self-consciously be minimal veils to rope in people who otherwise wouldn't care about financial products.
  - ViViDboarder 5y ago
    Because it doesn’t provide any value. The game developers created an artificial demand by making a particular aspect of the game so unenjoyable that some people would pay others to do it. They could, instead, just offer people the better experience uniformly and deliver more value to their users. In this way, the demand and output is entirely artificial. The author here describes the main difference this new model and older games where similar economies developed is that this is considered a primary feature of the game and people are entering it for the purpose of grinding for cash. I remember many of the other games described such as RuneScape, Second Life, WoW, etc. where people sold in game currency or profiles, but they weren’t advertised as economic opportunities, but as games you play for entertainment. VCs weren’t investing in them for this purpose either.
renewiltord 5y ago
The wikipedia article has examples from David Graeber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs
- sam_lowry_ 5y ago
  Here is the original publication of the essay: https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/ https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/ I have anecdotal evidence that it took financial circles by storm. One very well known CEO in the financial industry even wrote a book inspired by David Graeber a few years later.
- cochne 5y ago
  I'm not totally convinced after looking at that. "duct tapers, who temporarily fix problems that could be fixed permanently, e.g., programmers repairing bloated code, airline desk staff who calm passengers whose bags do not arrive;" Is duct taping code never optimal?
- jakear 5y ago
  Some examples: receptionists, administrative assistances, quality control officers, compliance officers, and maintainers of bloated legacy software systems. I disagree that any of these jobs are “bullshit”. I think the most bullshit of all the jobs on that page is that author’s, who wastes society’s time listening to him complain about things he has no experience with.

Can you provide an example of a bullshit job?

xracy 5y ago

Did you read the article?

seibelj 5y ago
Yes! However, as stated in the article, earning currency or items in videogames and reselling them have been around since the earliest days of online gaming. Plus these people are entrepreneurs working for themselves. I'm really not getting the link.
- xracy 5y ago
  "In Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, David Graeber makes the case that a sizable chunk of the labour economy is essentially people performing useless work." I would treat a bullshit job as any job/living that requires you to do useless work. How do you define "useless work"?
- all2well 5y ago
  Something like Axie Infinity just seems _incredibly_ cynical. I sometimes joke that stuff like professional sports are just financial instruments, which only incidentally involve a ball of some sort. Play-to-earn and many crypto schemes seem to self-consciously be minimal veils to rope in people who otherwise wouldn't care about financial products.
- ViViDboarder 5y ago
  Because it doesn’t provide any value. The game developers created an artificial demand by making a particular aspect of the game so unenjoyable that some people would pay others to do it. They could, instead, just offer people the better experience uniformly and deliver more value to their users. In this way, the demand and output is entirely artificial. The author here describes the main difference this new model and older games where similar economies developed is that this is considered a primary feature of the game and people are entering it for the purpose of grinding for cash. I remember many of the other games described such as RuneScape, Second Life, WoW, etc. where people sold in game currency or profiles, but they weren’t advertised as economic opportunities, but as games you play for entertainment. VCs weren’t investing in them for this purpose either.

renewiltord 5y ago

The wikipedia article has examples from David Graeber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs

sam_lowry_ 5y ago
Here is the original publication of the essay: https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/ https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/ I have anecdotal evidence that it took financial circles by storm. One very well known CEO in the financial industry even wrote a book inspired by David Graeber a few years later.
cochne 5y ago
I'm not totally convinced after looking at that. "duct tapers, who temporarily fix problems that could be fixed permanently, e.g., programmers repairing bloated code, airline desk staff who calm passengers whose bags do not arrive;" Is duct taping code never optimal?
jakear 5y ago
Some examples: receptionists, administrative assistances, quality control officers, compliance officers, and maintainers of bloated legacy software systems. I disagree that any of these jobs are “bullshit”. I think the most bullshit of all the jobs on that page is that author’s, who wastes society’s time listening to him complain about things he has no experience with.