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> With which I mean to say that there is a lot of nonsensical projects being done out there, that still make a living for many people. I don't know why this i

> With which I mean to say that there is a lot of nonsensical projects being done out there, that still make a living for many people. I don't know why this is a bad thing. I don't think projects that you believe are nonsensical shouldn't exist just because of your opinion, especially if they're helping people survive in this world. I'm sure the people working on them don't think they're nonsensical.

jajko 2y ago
Yeah when you take 2 steps back, ignore IT for a second and look on whole mankind, there are hundreds of millions of jobs that could be called nonsensical from certain points of view. We are not above this in any meaningful ways, maybe its just a bit more obvious to keen eye. Yet society and economy keeps going and nobody apart from some academic discussions really cares. I mean companies have 100% incentive to trim fat to raise income yet they only do the least minimum.
- chuankl 2y ago
  There is a book about it: "Bullshit Jobs" by the late anthropologist David Graeber.
lukan 2y ago
"I'm sure the people working on them don't think they're nonsensical." Rise of antidepressants imply otherwise. The more bullshit we stop doing, the more energy there is for the awesome things we could do instead.
- throwaway346434 2y ago
  Strong agree. The arts have a place in society. Tackling real problems like hunger or health do too, arguably more so - they create the space for society to tolerate, if not enjoy art. But the down side is we have a huge smear of jobs that either don't really matter or only matter for the smallest of moments that exist in this middle ground. I like to think of a travel agent of yesteryear as the perfect example: someone who makes a professional experience of organising your leisure so you don't have to; using questionable industry deals. This individual does not have your consumer interests at heart, because being nice to you is not where the profit is generally. The only role they actually play is rent seeking. Efficiency threatens the rent seeking models of right now, but at the same time leads to a Cambrian explosion of new ones.

jajko 2y ago

Yeah when you take 2 steps back, ignore IT for a second and look on whole mankind, there are hundreds of millions of jobs that could be called nonsensical from certain points of view. We are not above this in any meaningful ways, maybe its just a bit more obvious to keen eye. Yet society and economy keeps going and nobody apart from some academic discussions really cares. I mean companies have 100% incentive to trim fat to raise income yet they only do the least minimum.

chuankl 2y ago
There is a book about it: "Bullshit Jobs" by the late anthropologist David Graeber.

lukan 2y ago

"I'm sure the people working on them don't think they're nonsensical." Rise of antidepressants imply otherwise. The more bullshit we stop doing, the more energy there is for the awesome things we could do instead.

throwaway346434 2y ago
Strong agree. The arts have a place in society. Tackling real problems like hunger or health do too, arguably more so - they create the space for society to tolerate, if not enjoy art. But the down side is we have a huge smear of jobs that either don't really matter or only matter for the smallest of moments that exist in this middle ground. I like to think of a travel agent of yesteryear as the perfect example: someone who makes a professional experience of organising your leisure so you don't have to; using questionable industry deals. This individual does not have your consumer interests at heart, because being nice to you is not where the profit is generally. The only role they actually play is rent seeking. Efficiency threatens the rent seeking models of right now, but at the same time leads to a Cambrian explosion of new ones.