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Yet hiring for the opposite also feels untenable. "We want people who don't work hard." or "We want smart-ass opportunistic hackers."

A better way to phrase why "Work Hard" has a lot of hidden risks is with militaristic examples. Soldiers work hard, never say no, take their marching orders, etc... A company *wants* soldiers. Good soldiers. Good company.

That is, the more perfectly run an organization is, the more it's like a military organization. Very legible, very male, very brotherly, very phallic.

With this in mind, as a CEO, the question is "How militaristic do I want my company to be?" Striving for max efficiency by only valuing people who are willing to work themselves to the bone for *your* personal goals is a kind of dehumanization.

Gather people who are already dehumanized (e.g. those who are lost and looking for a cause to commit themselves wholly to) isn't necessarily "evil" but it passes on the chance to "humanize" someone.

It creates an incentive structure for continuous dehumanization because someone somewhere will be able to make use of the Zealot Without a Cause.

If instead the dehumanization process increased chaos, then the mechanism would self-destruct over time.

This I think is the root of "Toxic Positivity". By creatively and intelligently taking advantage of things, a process that would naturally self-destruct is put on life-support. The reanimation feels "inhuman" despite it being immortal and even powerful like a vampire.