
Why do we waste our lives as servants? - j7
http://maladroit4u.neocities.org/why-do-we-waste-our-lives-as-servents.html
======
millerc
Because life is hard. You might think yourself part of an advanced
civilization, but the moment you step out of society, you live in a jungle.

"No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of
thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in
mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls
for thee."

Illness will come, hardship will come, childbirth will come. Anything you
won't be able to handle by yourself, by cause of weakness, incompetence or
lack of resources, you will need the support of others to get through it. That
support will be available if you're a well-integrated part of society.

I was lucky enough to know illness early in my career. I've been thought by
this that I can't cut myself off from society, I can't go very far from
hospitals without risking my life.

You are not a servant. You are part of a society, of which you need the
services to get anywhere past your 40's. Serving others makes you worth being
served.

~~~
jbranchaud
The OP is not suggesting the rejection of community, he/she is suggesting the
rejection of a 'life'style -- the American lifestyle. Clearly community is
essential and I doubt the OP would disagree with that.

~~~
dinkumthinkum
The "American life'style" ... What a load of uncritical, unthoughtful, anti-
American nonsense. So do these non-American countries have air conditioners,
plumbing systems, and so on? If so, how did they get there without so-called
"servants?"

------
johnnyg
Rah rah.

So you are sitting in your economical abode eating your economical food with a
pleased non-servant grin. And there you sit. And sit.

The urge to build or do will come. Building is better with others. And soon
you are back to having to make trade offs to build something you want or
people want.

To me, I'm always going to build. So yeah, all I can do is either pick the
best masters available to me, figure out how to spread out the masters (client
vs customer) or decide that in the name of freedom, I'm not doing anything and
try to declare stagnation a virtue.

~~~
zhemao
More like there you toil in the hot sun so that the crop on which your future
survival depends doesn't become choked by weeds, devoured by pests, or
withered from heat. People forget that agriculture was a back breaking affair
and an often unreliable source of sustenance before mechanization and large
factory farms came around. It remains back-breaking and unreliable for those
in poorer nations not fortunate enough to have found a more high-paying
"servitude."

~~~
snogglethorpe
As usual, Bob the Angry Flower says it best:
[http://www.angryflower.com/atlass.gif](http://www.angryflower.com/atlass.gif)

------
kevinpet
It's the supreme luxury to be able to reject society. It's a luxury that's
only available to those who are either born to wealth or put a lot of effort
into obtaining it.

There are also the "I just don't use money, man" people who are actually just
living off the charity of friends.

~~~
seiji
Completely rejecting society is one of the most self-centered and egotistical
things you can do. Only two classes of people obtain it: the very wealthy
(basically, FU money) and vow-of-sileince monks (basically, "I'm never going
to interact with humanity again").

~~~
j45
There is a third way, of being present in the world for your worldly
obligations, and being able to pursue your personal/inner growth and
experience as well.

------
Permit
I've always been partial to Voltaire's thought on the matter: "Work saves us
from three great evils: boredom, vice and need."

Even if I had more time during the day to to whatever I pleased, I doubt I'd
have the money to do anything interesting. I'd probably end up programming or
working on something, which I might as well get paid to do.

I'd certainly rather program than maintain a garden. But I can understand why
that's not true for everyone.

~~~
zobzu
Work does not mean that you have to make others rich, however. You could work
only to be saved from those evil and still get something in exchange, that
isn't making the other party "get much more than you do".

For that we would probably need the biggest revolution we've ever known (thats
not happening)

------
mullingitover
Who's a servant? I'm exchanging my free time for money in an exchange that I
feel is very worthwhile, and the 'servitude' I engage in is intellectually
stimulating. If you feel like you're a servant, you picked the wrong career
(or you didn't pick a career...)

Not everyone wants to run their own business.

------
ruswick
If self-employment is merely a "new boss," then why isn't self-sufficiency?
Instead of relying upon the highly-developed apparatuses that society has
created that enable one to achieve homeostasis and proceed through life, he is
going to "indenture" himself to his bodily needs, creating far more work than
in necessary. Is it better to be a "servant" to another than to be a "servant"
to oneself? His point is incoherent.

Secondly, he presents this notion of a foundationally-flawed and perverse
system, and asserts that he is going to leave it, without presenting an
alternative. Suppose that one does reject society and become entirely self-
sufficient. Then what? He appears to have no ultimate objective nor any motive
other than disillusionment with the system. What occurs after he quits his job
and builds a cabin in the woods? I'd rather be a servant to society where I
know that I at least have nominal objectives and a context in which to live my
life, than abandon everything and hope that a life of solitude (or whatever he
intends to pursue, he was pretty ambiguous) is preferable to society.

His plan doesn't seem well-devised, and his explanation offers essentially
nothing. Just because social arrangements in society are sub-optimal does not
mean that abandoning everything is preferable, or even tenable.

------
seiji
I go through this all time time. Here's one from three and a half years ago:
[http://matt.io/startup/Hazards_of_Work](http://matt.io/startup/Hazards_of_Work)

A year and a half ago I gave up, quit, sold my car, got rid of my apartment,
and lowered my living expenses. I'm quite free of overlords at the moment, but
stressfully unsuccessful and technically homeless (without being entirely
poor).

Tomorrow I turn 30. This was not in my life plan. Need to daft punk it up very
soon.

~~~
barbs
Sorry to hear things didn't go according to plan, but I did enjoy "Hazards of
Work". Thanks for that.

------
quaunaut
This post really frustrates me. The moral is right and true: If you don't like
what you're doing, stop that, and do what you enjoy. Find a way to make it a
viable way of making money.

But thinking you can ever avoid being someone's servant... that's nonsense.
The President is servile to the whims of Congress. Congress is servile both to
each other and their constituents. CEOs are servile to their shareholders, and
the shareholders are likely servile to someone else in their lives.

Often, they don't enjoy what they do either. But it's better than the
alternative. Crushing poverty is something you're either extremely afraid of,
or you've never lived it. Spending some hours on your weekdays doing something
so you don't have to suffer that isn't a big deal.

The old equation for a long, happy life doesn't work anymore. With the rate of
technological advancement, it probably won't ever work again. Why? Because 4
years ago, the iPhone had come out two years before and smartphone penetration
was stupid low. The idea of an electric car getting car of the year was an
absolute joke. Things that seem rote today literally didn't exist.

Working at a single company for the majority of your life also doesn't work.
For one, people are wise enough now to know it's hard to be happy in an
atmosphere that never changes. For two, many jobs barely exist for 3-5 years
before becoming obsolete in one way or another, if you don't evolve with it.

But that's okay! We'll get the hang of this, as a society, pretty soon. But
that focus you mention, on making your own shiny thing? Finding your own
personal passion? Isn't that what our best and brightest have been telling us
for at least the past 20 years, if not longer?

Sure, don't be a servant. But don't be stupid and avoid working for "the man"
simply because it isn't what you want right this second. Sometimes putting up
with a few years of grief can give you just enough leeway to do some really
incredible shit with your life.

~~~
dinkumthinkum
Yes but I think the author's point is more about giving up on capitalism and
joining a peach commune and making your own house out of logs, filter your
urine for drinking water, etc.

------
InclinedPlane
Wow, this is such a poisonous little screed.

If you hate humanity then fine, go live in a shack, be your own Universe,
knock yourself out.

For myself I actually like humans, on the whole. I enjoy interacting with
others, I enjoy helping other people, I enjoy building things, I enjoy
working, and I think a lot of other folks do too. Work is not implicitly
servile. It can be, of course, but it doesn't have to be.

------
zhemao
Says the man who clearly put in a few hours of servitude in order to purchase
the shiny contraption with which he wrote this essay.

Not even subsistence farmers these days are entirely self-sufficient. They
still have to purchase some of the necessities of life from others.

Maybe in this modern world we are all servants, but at least we get to choose
our masters.

------
ctdonath
_I, for one, am done. From this day forward I will buy /grow the most
economical food. I will buy/build the most economical abode. I will forgo the
shiny thing or make one myself at a lesser cost. I'm so very tired of being a
servant._

I have lived, or at least intensely studied, all aspects of that premise.
While a laudable goal I casually aspire to, it is very hard work with low
tangible payoff. I instead write software for others because being a servant -
a good valuable one - pays off pretty darned well on average.

------
tnuc
Why? Because organization and specialization get things done.

Is everyone going to have their own little farm and make their own clothes
from the hides of the animals they raise?

------
tibbon
Honestly, because most people have to.

I'm just getting to the point that I can probably work just half or so and
sustain myself just fine. This is awesome, but I realize I'm overflowing with
privilege. For most, this isn't an option.

------
decasteve
Why do some live their lives as masters? Why delegate interesting work to
others rather than do it themselves? Why give up that money?

You are not a servant when there is a fair exchange of money for services.

You become a "servant", or rather a modern "serf", when you lose control over
such matters. It may seem subtle but it is an important distinction. If you
are so indebted financially, living paycheque to paycheque, you are a servant
to that debt and the interest it accumulates, you are a serf.

Without such bonds you can view your employer as a peer, a colleague, a
contemporary, and not as your master.

------
justanother
Many of the criticisms on this page are valid, but the author's expressed
sentiment, taken in moderation, can be very healthy.

I recently cut out a lot of unnecessary spending: Coffee drinks, restaurants,
nearly all alcohol. My furniture is patio furniture from someone's curb. I
stopped paying people to fix my appliances, preferring to order parts online
and spend the hard time tearing them down (and yes, making mistakes). My main
remaining expenses are housing and groceries (and since we've learned to fish,
we don't buy so much protein). None of this is strictly necessary, I'm very
gainfully employed, but it sure makes me feel a lot better about the value of
my own work.

And now, the point of all this: I have a 6-month glide path in the bank, to
protect against a job loss or other catastrophe. I also have a small sailboat
and a small powerboat, which would be even more unnecessary objects, except
that this is the one thing that that my wife and I do: We explore the sea as
often as possible. In my honest opinion, this is one of the nicer definitions
of having the world by the balls, and it doesn't involve being rich.

Sure, you have to serve others, and whether you choose (it really is a choice,
and I fail as often as the next guy) to enjoy it is up to you. But you can
still win, as long as you're damn certain of why you're doing it, and you do
not waver.

------
dinkumthinkum
I may be going toward a "middle brow" here but this is a lot of jibber jabber.
You hear this sophomoric stuff all the time. What is inherently better about
being some kind of mountain man survivalist or some commune peach grower? I
don't use those phrases to besmirch anyone but what is inherently more "right"
about those things? The author is denouncing "shiny things" and claims to seek
to make his own "shiny things" whatever that means; I suppose technology is of
no interest to this person as probably less than 1% of the population could
actually build anything remotely similar to something like an air conditioner
or a computer without ... some institutions of "servants" trading time for
money to buy said shiny things and shelter. This whole "Working for the man
sucks, I'm going to be a monk, the rest of you vain, vapid, shallow people"
stuff is sort hilarious to me. It's just this pompous pretention of these
sorts of people that claim to be above worldy goods and so on that is just so
hard to take; in fact there is a rich history of people claiming to live for a
higher purpose in just such a lifestyle, when in fact they were just as greedy
and licentious as the rest of us.

------
neil_s
So that others can be 'servants' to us?

I am good at making software products, but not so much at repairing my car, so
I'd rather spend some extra time making software products for others so I can
get someone to fix my car for me.

So much for the pseudo-philosophical rhetoric about the 'deadness we feel
inside'. I'd feel dead inside if I had to spend hours on the bottom of my car
or out in the fields, instead of doing what I enjoy and am at good at.

------
mzarate06
_Why do we waste so much of our lives as servants to people that we don 't
care about?_

I avoid that situation at all costs. My advice to anyone asking themselves
this question is to simply stop working for, or around, people you don't care
about. Solving that doesn't require a change in your economics, either.

 _No, we want to be servants for a large portion of our lives, apparently. We
grovel at the foot of a master so that we can try to paint over the deadness
we feel inside with bullshit..._

There's a difference between being a miserable servant, and feeling enriched
when put in a position _of service_. It really does have to do w/the type of
person you are, and the type of people you surround yourself with. There are
some people I truly enjoy working for, whether that be due to friendship or
respect, or both, and I'll gladly devote hours of my life to their cause if
they ask it.

At no time, however, have I drawn the conclusion that OP did. In cases when
I've worked around people I'd rather not be around, I simply looked for better
people or teams to work with. I didn't change my purchasing or other economic
habits.

------
austinz
This rubs me the wrong way. I guess I don't see why doing stuff that makes
someone else wealthier, even incidentally, is _intrinsically_ a bad thing.

If someone happens to find their job challenging, meaningful, and enjoyable,
learns a lot, enjoys the company of their coworkers, and achieves their
personal goals while working for a company or starting a business, why would
the fact that other people are benefitting from their work put a damper on
their enjoyment?

Or, like other commenters have mentioned, a job or self-employment might
provide the income and opportunities to enrich one's life by living in an
interesting place, getting to meet interesting people, supporting a certain
lifestyle, enabling new experiences, and increasing someone's standard of
living overall.

Don't get me wrong - I don't think that it's a bad thing, either, for someone
to derive enjoyment from the mere fact that they aren't making someone else
richer. And if that's what the author values, more power to him or her. But I
really think it's sort of silly that the author is so puzzled that not
everyone else thinks the same way.

------
methodin
Has anyone turned an ah-ha moment into a life-long pursuit (and succeeded)?

~~~
Lost_BiomedE
None that have lived to tell the tale.

------
archarios
Living in interesting places costs money. I'd rather live in an expensive city
and have to work 40 hours a week and be able to engage in interesting
communities of people than live out in the boonies with fuck-all to do and no
one to interact with just so I'll feel better about myself for not "being
someone else's slave."

------
soup10
In the end we are all servants of one kind or another. An entrepreneur works
at the service of customers, clients, investors, and employees. A rank and
file employee is a servant to their boss.

Everyone is a servant to the government, too which you pay taxes.

Even those that don't pay taxes are a servant to their friends, family, it
takes work to maintain those relationships.

Even those that don't care about friends or family, or a servant to god(or
"the universe" if you prefer).

At the end of the day there is always something that tells us or guides us in
what to do or how to act, wether it be nature, a boss, friends, or often times
just our own conscience. It's the nature of life... which isn't to say that
seeking freedom and greater power, control and independence over our own lives
isn't a laudable goal, but it's a balance, and everyone has different
priorities that make them decide where to strike that balance.

------
Falkon1313
If you're young, healthy, and streetsmart enough, and the risk is acceptable,
go for it. Take a summer and be homeless (or maybe even a year if you're in a
survivable climate). You'll have some exciting adventures in amongst all the
boredom and misery. And if you survive it, you'll learn a lot. Like why you
don't want to live like that and what you actually want out of life. (Also
maybe how to explain that gap in your employment at a job interview.) Plus
you'll have some cool stories to tell your kids once you get old.

If you're older or wiser, you might want to consider a more positive-oriented
way to address a midlife crisis - focusing more on what you want instead of
what you don't want, and considering how to get the most value out of your
time instead of how to get more time that's not as valuable as you'd like for
it to be.

------
informatimago
First, indeed fulfulling basic needs is cheap. If you don't take into account
taxes! The cost of tomatoes mainly embed taxes. The cost of housing is almost
entirely taxes. But assume you move to a low tax country or place. So
basically you can live good working only one or two days a month.

But self sustainability (unreliance on other people) could only be archieved
with a great population reduction. Yes, ecolodoomsters are right: the planet
cannot sustain 9e9 individuals. But it can sustain them, and more, with
industrial and efficient systems, like modern agriculture, where only 1% of
the population works on food production.

If only 1% need to work to provide food for every body, then the rest of us
has only to work 1% of the time to compensate the agricultors.

All the rest is taxes and banksters.

------
dschiptsov
"Fight Club" movie already expressed these "ideas" with much more taste and
style.)

~~~
nnoitra
The ideas are ancient. This guy feels like he's the first one to invent them.

------
untog
What a vapid post. What is being a servant, exactly? If you quit your job and
start growing all your food, aren't you a servant to the land?

The simple fact is that in order to get the things we need and want, we have
to trade something for it. If your skills lie in something like tech (like
most of us on HN) it makes sense to apply those skills to earn more money than
you would driving a tractor.

And categorising anything non-necessary as a "shiny thing" is a great way of
devaluing a lot of stuff. I took a three month road trip around the US. Loved
it. I was a "servant" for a long time in order to be able to afford it. It was
totally worth it. Was that a "shiny thing"?

------
general_failure
The post has good intentions. I suspect this is one of those self-motivational
moments that we all have in our lives. Where we want to quit working for the
man and do something exotic and different. Like grow vegetables, start a
restaurant, climb mountains, build some product.

Most people here are taking the writing too literally. Not everybody is a
Wodehouse when it comes to writing. If you want to critic, shoot the writing
and not the message. Don't take 'master' and 'slave' literally. Give the
author some poetic freedom.

------
narrator
I sometimes wonder what's the least amount of money I could spend if I put a
lot of money into capital that would save me money. For example, get a big
solar array. Get a Tesla that I could charge at home. Get a hydroponic garden
set up that would grow all my food. Save seeds. Dig a well. Solar water
heating. Etc, etc. Obviously the upfront cost would be absurdly high compared
to just going to the grocery store but it would be a fun project if I ever got
enough money to do it.

------
kirubakaran
What about the cool experiences that money can buy? This may not cost a lot,
depending on what you want to do, but it does have a price tag. Not that I'm
advocating the job treadmill as a lifestyle, but making a lot of money (say,
by building a startup) has its benefits. When commercial space travel becomes
a reality, I want to be able to buy a ticket to check out the earth from
space.

(I'm not disagreeing with the sentiment of the post, but it seems to set up a
false dichotomy)

------
FrankenPC
Speak for yourself (duh...that's what the author is doing). I work for others
to make good money to support my addiction to hobbies. I, for one LOVE
quadcopters, reef tanks, micro-controllers, LASERs, PC's, my electric guitar,
and everything in between. The amount of time I get to spend with my hobbies
is MUCH greater than the actual 40hr work week. Fair trade.

------
drawkbox
It really is a societal agreement. We all benefit from it in the end, we can't
do it all for ourselves so we divide it up. Just like agriculture allowed us
to move beyond basic food survival needs to thinking people, we all do parts
to advance quality of life.

It also gives you a sense of purpose. i.e. the power grid guys keep peace as
much as soldiers as one example.

------
abhinavk
Brace Yourselves! NeoCities websites are coming.

------
aaron695
Confused rant.

Pick a topic, servant to your employer or servant to pretty things?

Studies show people who are employed are happier than ones who are not. I'm
sure the grass is greener on the other side right now, but there's a lot of
evidence employment gives people more meaning than not having it, it's why
lotto winners don't do as awesome as one would think.

------
toblender
We are only free to the extent of our own self mastery. Those who cannot
master themselves, will find masters to govern them.

------
cle
| We spend at least 40 hours per week working for other people to become
richer than ourselves.

Sure, there are people like this. But a great number of people do this as a
sacrifice to make their family's lives better.

I find this post boring, arrogant, and narrow-minded. These aren't new
problems, and you haven't arrived at some sort of new solution.

------
orangethirty
We all have to answer to somebody. The lucky ones, answer to other men. The
unlucky ones, answer to their conscience.

------
krapp
You might be a king or a little street sweeper but sooner or later you dance
with the reaper.

( _Go on then, I deserve it._ )

------
dghughes
The author may be interested in this company that build s super energy
efficient homes [http://www.seconstruction.ca](http://www.seconstruction.ca)

$10 Canadian to heat versus the typical $500 using a small "hair dryer" to
heat the home in -20C weather.

~~~
dinkumthinkum
Yeah but jeez, those guys at that company, what a bunch of servants they are.
I bet they work at the company to buy "shiny things" ... we shouldn't support
them. :)

------
axus
It's nice that we can choose who we do or do not work for. Slavery and serfdom
were pretty terrible.

I like my job; I don't think my work would be possible without cooperation and
a shared environment. I don't mind serving others, if they are serving me too.

------
zobzu
Rent. Taxes. The very land your house is on.

Unless you become a master you are required to serve. If you don't find a
middle-ground that is acceptable to you, the alternative is to live like a
hobo.

Some people actually chose that.

------
knicholes
Working as a slave I can afford many more shiny things than I could make on my
own. The stuff I buy can be made with professional quality whereas the stuff
I'd make would be shoddy, at best.

------
Glyptodon
Eh. If I had the means and the time to not be a servant, I'd go for it.
However, I don't even have a business idea that I'm capable of executing on.
So meh.

~~~
dinkumthinkum
That's his point. He is not advocating you stop being a servant to a boss and
starting you're own great company ... He's saying a startup is just another
boss and really you should become some sort of acetic monk and live off the
land, grow your beats and yams or whatever. You shouldn't even want any
"stuff" what's wrong with you??!! It's just crap.

------
MaybiusStrip
I love my current job. I enjoy going to work every day.

I hated my last job, but I didn't feel the need to have a public existential
crisis about it.

------
paulrademacher
Why do we waste our clicks upvoting this crap?

~~~
general_failure
I wish the internet had an 'unclick' button

------
vichu
This may be off-topic, but it was rather fascinating watching that hit counter
jump up by hundreds after just one refresh.

~~~
dbancajas
me too!! I was fascinated. I never knew hackernews audience could reach 5000
visits so quickly!!

~~~
dbancajas
it's on 8K now!! wow!!

------
jagguli
if you work for a publicly traded company and you buy shares in that company,
would you not be working for your self ?

------
vittore
I guess it is more like a question of how much time you are ready to spend in
order to get money for the rest of it.

------
quantumpotato_
[http://dilbert.com/strips](http://dilbert.com/strips)

------
happywolf
In US, health-related costs will easily bring financial ruin to a normal
working person.

------
espitia
what does he/she mean by "And don't think self-employment is anything but a
new boss. "?

~~~
dinkumthinkum
He's purporting an ideology that says by starting your own company, you are
simply engaging in your own indentured servitude. You're giving up your
precious life to customers, shareholders, whatever just so you can buy "shiny
things," anything but participating in capitalism. It's just think kind hippy
idealism and moralizing.

------
LordHumungous
Because I gotta get paid. Duh.

------
gits_tokyo
For the past few years I've been keeping a low profile here on HN. I visit, I
listen to all I can, and refrain from commenting but today I felt the need to
break my cycle, if only for a moment.

I have no idea who is behind
[http://maladroit4u.neocities.org](http://maladroit4u.neocities.org) but you
aren't the only one who has stopped to ask perhaps one of, if not, the most
pertinent questions that I believe touches the lives of many, whether they
care to admit it or not today. With certainty I can tell you 1) you won't be
the last with these questions and 2) from experience many will look upon your
concerns as a waste of thought, don't hold it against them. I on the other
hand, will admit for the record, I didn't stop and move on as if I'm
contemplating "what's for lunch?" while scanning the pantry. I continue to
question this very day and expect it will consume the rest of my conscious
life.

Why? It is not only a question for me it is a problem. I simply don't believe
there is anyone who is really out to come close to providing/leading viable
passage to another way. I have looked and the options available don't add up.
This! This is where I have the expectations of a fork forming in the road.
After all, how could it be so? It is preposterous to even consider such is the
case! However, I'm neither here to tell how you should live or where you
should place importance. If indeed you have found your way, I cheer you on
while being fully aware I have no immediate value to add to your life on this
earth (But that's a lie as I believe it concerns you just the same). If you
have not found your way, I have every intension of letting you know at some
point how you _can_ live and where you _can_ place importance. I find that to
be the noblest thing I can do within my capacity. The most economical is to
die, but I've settled on such an arrangement not being very helpful to others
in the long run. So I exist, if for nothing else, to see whatever's been
within materialize in the hands of those who need it most. Few in life need to
create bridges I have no other choice worthy of attention.

I maintain, highlighting the problems are easy, real solutions prove ever
elusive. Short term gains, smoke and wind are always in play. Long term views
are seen as an expensive liability. It's acceptable institutional policy to
induce with wild garauntees that work for a time but fall apart at scale.
Innovation is no longer sought and who's meaning holds no further weight. No
one stops to question 'til shit hits the fan and life directly impacted. It
only takes a crisis to see the climate is every man for him/herself. Last of
all, it is so incredibly easy to forget, to be seduced and lulled into the
sweet soft comforts of a soothing caress... there are no larger issues ahead
my dear, no erosion taking place, let's question no more, be open-minded (hear
that?) and live happily ever after.

So I commend someone is stopping to ask the kinds of questions exhibited on
[http://maladroit4u.neocities.org](http://maladroit4u.neocities.org) and agree
with the oft saying, "an unexamined life is not worth living". I also felt it
important to stress the author expresses a serious issue for _some_. And high
on that list is equity.

I would be interested in knowing what was the author's tipping point.

------
michaelochurch
This bugs me, because it's the cynical negativity that I often feel, but it's
one-sided and extreme.

Except for hermits, all of us want services from others. Serving is,
therefore, part of the social contract. We work, we pay taxes, and we do lots
of work for others' benefit. Nothing wrong with that. To rip from _Game of
Thrones_ , _valar dohaeris_.

In fact, most people rot in a life where they don't get opportunities to help
out (i.e. serve) others and become deeply unhappy. They feel unfulfilled.

It's the alienating and creepy institutional experience, the entrenched
ingrate upper class, the perverse social demands, and the dehumanizing,
corrupt, and capricious evaluation process-- and, in addition to all this, the
fact that it has nothing to do with productivity (people could be just as
productive, if not moreso, in better environments)-- that make institutional
Work so horrible.

People like to do things for other people. That's not a waste of life. That's
a major part of being human. Being forced to do things-- often boring,
degrading things-- in some subordinate context is what makes people miserable
at work.

~~~
seiji
Let's frame it in the "Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose" happiness rubric.

If you're smart, you level up to Mastery fairly quickly.

Once you're no longer an absolute novice, it's frustrating to spend your days
without meaning or purpose. The novice finds meaning and purpose internally
when learning. Once learning has plateaued, meaning and purpose come from
integrating with society.

This is where the shackles of jobs start to erode your self: the masters at
bad workplaces dole out meaning and purpose based on die rolls. They don't
understand the connection between what people are good at, what they want to
do, and how they should do it. You get told what to do. You have little
leeway. When your choices are removed, the friction eats you alive.

Modern hippy startups try to get around the last part by letting people do
whatever they want. Those companies can be pretty much counted on one hand
though.

In short: companies exploit the Mastery of smart people while forcing you to
look at Purpose through double slits and removing Autonomy resulting in your
knobs of happiness being broken without you even realizing it.

