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===The [[Graeber paradox]]=== | ===The [[Graeber paradox]]=== | ||
Therefore we present what we will call the [[Graeber paradox]], in honour of the late contrarian and anti-capitalist agitant, {{author|David Graeber}}, whose short book {{br|Bullshit Jobs: A Theory}}<ref>This book once almost got the JC fired. Long story.</ref> makes this case: | |||
{{quote|''If I fix broken processes, machines will do everything, and I will be out of a job. If I don’t, nothing will work properly, and I could be out of a job.''}} | {{quote|''If I fix broken processes, machines will do everything, and I will be out of a job. If I don’t, nothing will work properly, and I could be out of a job.''}} | ||
Behold, the dilemma of modern professional employment. Being but ants on the planet’s face we are all, at ''some'' stage, doomed. It is just a matter of when. Our mortal frailty, or a [[silver bullet]], will get us in the end. We are damned if we do, damned if we don’t, and since damnation lies at a point up the road, whichever path it takes, we choose not to move forward ''at all''. | |||
''Let damnation at least make the effort to come and find me, rather than seeking it out''. | ''Let damnation at least make the effort to come and find me, rather than seeking it out''. | ||
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In actual fact, it is ''not'' a paradox. Pursuing change will ''not'' get you fired. Pursuing change inoculates you against redundancy, and for those of you who catch it anyway, it boosts your prospects of the next job. | In actual fact, it is ''not'' a paradox. Pursuing change will ''not'' get you fired. Pursuing change inoculates you against redundancy, and for those of you who catch it anyway, it boosts your prospects of the next job. | ||
Why? ''Because the work is never done''. | |||
There is no limit to number of tasks in the world, which, once automated, will no longer reach the threshold of paid employment. It is a [[reductionist]] canard of the first order that once routine work is automated there will be nothing left to do. If you sort out routine work, ''it makes the machine go faster''. A machine that goes faster finds new things to do. It also — and this may seem like cold comfort, but it provides warm employment, so don’t knock it — ''will blow up more spectacularly''. | |||
As long as ''you'' are resourceful, flexible and smart, the more bureaucratic pain you eliminate, the sooner you can get to interesting, knotty problems that need solving. | |||
''Solving interesting knotty problems is fun''. | |||
And, see above — if, as we are coming to suspect, most people do ''not'' think, “For the love of God, this is ''absurd''! We must fix it!” — then those people who do, and who can thereby alleviate process pain and make the machine run faster — they are like ''gold-dust''. | |||
{{sa}} | {{sa}} | ||
*[[System redundancy]] | |||
*[[Reduction in force]] | *[[Reduction in force]] | ||
*{{br|Bullshit Jobs: A Theory}} | *{{br|Bullshit Jobs: A Theory}} |