Great article, until the very end when it sounds like he wants to come up with with some anti-bullshit bullshit.
However I really did enjoy the read especially learning about the history of bullshit and how we got here.
I think the fundamental problem he mentioned has to be solved - "As factories producing goods in the west have been dismantled, and their work outsourced or replaced with automation, large parts of western economies have been left with little to do"
This is the key issue. There just isn't enough actual productive work to get done in many jobs and people can't just leave when the work is done due to being payed by the hour or being seen as lazy by their coworkers and bosses.
I'm not smart enough to give solutions to big general issues like this but I certainly see it as a problem in my own life. I have no idea what people actually do in most jobs these days and therefor when trying to decide on my next career move, I have trouble estimating how competent I would be when considering a job. Also it seems hard to develop any real skills in most jobs these days other than learning how to fit in and bullshit.
However, those skills do not transfer to a new position with a different 'culture'.
I've mostly worked blue collar labor type jobs in my time and had a clear task to complete but you end up getting pushed around by management types and are at great risk of personal injury for very little compensation. In my last job at a warehouse I worked my way up from a temp labor grunt to getting pretty close to management but I couldn't handle it. The higher up I got the less there was to do other than bullshit consumption and production, by the end I wanted to just go back to working with the guys on the floor (but again you aren't making enough and risking injury every day). I hope to find a job that I can actually do things and gain clear skills over time, but if I can't figure that out I'll have to become another sellout bullshitter since I'm not getting any younger and my body isn't gonna be able to handle the hard labor in the long run.
I think the fundamental problem he mentioned has to be solved - "As factories producing goods in the west have been dismantled, and their work outsourced or replaced with automation, large parts of western economies have been left with little to do" This is the key issue. There just isn't enough actual productive work to get done in many jobs and people can't just leave when the work is done due to being payed by the hour or being seen as lazy by their coworkers and bosses.
I'm not smart enough to give solutions to big general issues like this but I certainly see it as a problem in my own life. I have no idea what people actually do in most jobs these days and therefor when trying to decide on my next career move, I have trouble estimating how competent I would be when considering a job. Also it seems hard to develop any real skills in most jobs these days other than learning how to fit in and bullshit. However, those skills do not transfer to a new position with a different 'culture'. I've mostly worked blue collar labor type jobs in my time and had a clear task to complete but you end up getting pushed around by management types and are at great risk of personal injury for very little compensation. In my last job at a warehouse I worked my way up from a temp labor grunt to getting pretty close to management but I couldn't handle it. The higher up I got the less there was to do other than bullshit consumption and production, by the end I wanted to just go back to working with the guys on the floor (but again you aren't making enough and risking injury every day). I hope to find a job that I can actually do things and gain clear skills over time, but if I can't figure that out I'll have to become another sellout bullshitter since I'm not getting any younger and my body isn't gonna be able to handle the hard labor in the long run.