Redundancy: Difference between revisions

no edit summary
No edit summary
No edit summary
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
 
(3 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 27: Line 27:


===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.''}}
This is the dilemma of modern professional work. Call it the [[Graeber paradox]].<ref>So named for {{author|David Graeber}}’s book, [[Bullshit Jobs: A Theory]], which once almost got me fired. Long story.</ref> Being but ants on the planet’s face we are, at some stage, doomed. Our mortal frailty 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, which ever path it takes, we choose not to move forward ''at all''.  
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''.  
Line 37: Line 38:
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.


*'''The work is never done''': There is no finite 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. As long as you are a resourceful, flexible person, the more bureaucratic pain you eliminate, the sooner you can get to interesting, knotty problems that need solving. ''Solving interesting knotty problems is fun''.
Why? ''Because the work is never done''.
*People who can solve bureaucratic pain and make the machine run faster are like ''gold-dust''.
 
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}}