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Comment by justin_oaks | Hacker News Reader

To be honest, people generally don't want to work. In what way is this surprising?

I think people do want to work when they can enjoy and feel pride for the fruits of their labor. But often the fruits of labor in our economic system either don't pay the bills, aren't worthy of pride, or are almost entirely enjoyed by someone else in exchange for a small wage.

I think the spirit of the original comment is people don't want to do enforced work at someone else's behest in order to live. I agree a lot of people would choose to do some kind of work voluntarily even if they didn't have to. Many people on here are probably coders. They may grudgingly drag themselves out of bed to go and code whatever their boss says in their day job, but then go home and code whatever they want to code purely for the joy of building something. It's not that people don't want to do work, they just don't want to do work someone else prescribes. Sometimes prescribed work and work you want to do intersect, then great, but often that is not the case.

I think most jobs just aren’t the sort that elicit pride in their worker. They still need to be done though.

It comes down to how you define "work". People seem to want to put a lot of energy into doing stuff, sometimes stuff which is very hard labor or mentally challenging. The key is that they are most happy and willing to do this when they have a passion or a goal.

But when the "work" you are being asked to do seems pointless, or it seems like the vast majority of the benefit of your work is going to people who are already wealthy and powerful, there's much less motivation.

One of the most demotivating things is seeing your work thrown away. In the software world, we experience this often. Sometimes you can even finish a big project, really being proud at having built something great, but then something will change and render that product pointless (at least based on the current business plan).

After a few situations like that, one becomes more cautious. Performing heavy tasks on the whim of leader is less attractive.

im likely being too pedantic here so apologies up front if this is the case. if by “work” you mean, sacrificing your own dreams to make a boss’ dreams come true, then we’re probably on the same page. but if by “work” you mean, doing yard work, passion projects, etc… i’m not sure i agree. my parents are heading into retirement in a few years and i’m deeply concerned they won’t know what to do with themselves without work keeping them occupied. they’re both extremely lucky in that they immensely enjoy and are passionate about their work, tho.

even in my free time i have so many projects that take work but i absolutely love them.

i just wanted to chime in that people feel genuinely energized by work if it’s something they care about, something that matters to them, feeds their soul or whatever phrase you prefer. again, sorry to be the obnoxious pedant.

Source? I don't find this true at all. People simply don't want to do meaningless, consuming or alienating work.

Unfortunately unless you are doing something like working on your property or helping a neighbor, thats most work in this country.

I think this depends on what your definition of “work” is. I’m going to assume the poster you’re replying to means your typical office, service, or labor job - most of which are as you said, meaningless, consuming or alienating.

The term "work" may not be sufficiently precise. And that's how "Nobody wants to work" can be both simultaneously true and false at the same time, depending on what is meant by "work".

To say "Nobody wants to to engage in drudgery anymore" is true and always has been. To say "Nobody wants to be employed at a job that's meaningful and rewarding" is false (for most people at least; there may be exceptions).

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