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Comment by kweingar | Hacker News Reader

> The only plausible spots for "bullshit jobs" are in government and in endowment-funded academia

You should read Graeber’s book sometime.

There are jobs that are useless but still benefit business owners financially. Graeber gives the example of a receptionist at a small firm. The firm had so few callers and visitors that the receptionist was totally unnecessary and sat idle most of the time.

Why did they hire her? If the members of the firm answered the phone themselves, they would not be taken seriously. Every serious firm has a receptionist to answer the phone, so they felt they had to hire one. She was essentially there as decoration.

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> Every serious firm has a receptionist to answer the phone, so they felt they had to hire one. She was essentially there as decoration.

looks are sometimes not unimportant nor useless. It's only the hacker mindset that thinks otherwise. "Normal" people do put some importance on appearances. Therefore, it's not useless.

I think “useless” is the wrong aspect to focus on. Having someone sit at a desk doing nothing except answer a couple of phone calls sounds terrible. It’s good from the firm’s perspective because they get their receptionist, but the person in that role likely doesn’t get anything more than a pay check out of it.

> the person in that role likely doesn’t get anything more than a pay check out of it.

but why is there an expectation that they get anything more than a paycheque out of it? It's called a job for a reason.

Because people spend a large portion of their lives at work. I think it’s sad that so many people have to work these kinds of jobs because their talents aren’t monetisable. A person shouldn’t have to justify their need for shelter or food.

> A person shouldn’t have to justify their need for shelter or food.

while a good moral argument, the world has not reached a point where such outcomes can be had. At some point in the future, when there's post-scarcity for all basic resources, then it would be possible that people shouldn't have to justify their own shelter or food.

I honestly believe this could have been achieved already, at least in my country. But opportunities to push us in that direction are avoided more often than not. Maybe the same characteristics that advanced developed nations will also be their downfall?

I believe the same is possible. Especially the fact that we end up spending more money to make it not possible.

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