I don’t feel massively strongly about it but broadly speaking the dividing line is those which commodify natural interpersonal interaction and those which do not, at least to my mind.
Conversation
So, cooking: fake? cooking for other people is one of the most natural interpersonal interactions there is
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Big difference between getting paid to cook a meal for another person and getting paid to cook and eat a meal with another person.
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Paying for the food and paying for the simulacrum of care and affection that goes into personal cooking is another way of phrasing it.
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OK, so we've moved from any interpersonal interaction to just those which provide a simulacrum of care. I am sure any waitresses you ask would be happy to explain that they are in fact required to pretend they care about their customers, but leave that aside.
so, therapy: fake?
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Therapy kind of borderline case — depends if you’re paying them to be a friend (fake) or for their expertise (real).
gets it. Amazing how few commenters here would be able to steelman the argument.
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Humans are hardwired to need things like friendship, love.
There are reasons evolution led us to desire those!
Fake substitutes...They feel good, but do they solve deeper reasons behind the need? No.
So now ppl FEEL loved, but they aren’t. Could come back to bite in the future
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Fake substitutes also reduce incentives for people to improve, to become a person who can find real affection, and the long term benefits of that.
Anyway as a libertarian everything should be legal! ... but also let’s be clear-eyed about commercialized affection
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"I think this job is harmful" is a very different claim than "I think this job is fake". lots of "real" jobs are harmful; why single out those that involve feigning affection in particular as being fake?
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Think because *the thing being produced* (appearance of love/caring/friendship) is fake.
As far as harmful, btw, not saying harmful in every case. People should be free to make their own decisions.
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the thing being produced *is* the appearance
True. Was imperfectly phrased.
But the idea is that, by being *merely* an appearance rather than the real thing, it is "fake".
Would apply to other jobs too, to various degrees, to the extent that they substitute a real human relationship with a simulation.
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A more accurate phrasing, rather than "fake job", would be "real job producing a fake connection".
But, I suspect many use the former as shorthand for the latter? Or maybe most people who say "fake job" are just jealous, that's definitely possible as well.
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