Conversation

One of the most disorienting things in the world is that the labor theory of value is false. Highly competent people can work really hard on something difficult…that’s totally worthless.
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For a long time I’ve had intuitions like “but…they did SO much tedious technical work! They gave up sleep! They gave up time with their families! Who would DO that for a useless project?” People getting paid, that’s who.
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Or: “But they’re so smart and knowledgeable and conscientious! They’re *better at this than me.* Wouldn’t they have noticed if they were putting in all that work on a doomed enterprise?” Seems like…not always!
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“What do you mean that company is fake? I’ve met people there! It has real engineers building real things! Things that are hard to build!” …things nobody will actually use, unless they’re subsidized or flashy demonstration showpieces.
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“But how can that claim be false! I met a guy who believes it, who does this stuff for a living, and he’s really smart and knows a lot and works really hard!” …nope
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“Wouldn’t a person just get demoralized and quit if they started to believe their work was pointless? Who *hustles* for a doomed project?” I still don’t get the psychology of it, but empirically people do this.
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Now I understand, with creeping horror, how someone turns into . (I mean that affectionately.) Like…if conscientious effort is almost NO evidence of correctness or usefulness…you might easily slip into being totally unimpressed by it.
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Replying to and
It’s a cope as well. If you can’t work hard you have no choice but to traffic in taste/insight. The world and your psyche (growth) both reward raw effort. But it’s out of reach if you can’t produce it. I’m not unimpresssed by it so much as uninvested in it. Nothing in it for me.
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