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Some people claim that bullshit jobs exist so ruling class can keep status-quo. According to author of "Bullshit Jobs",
...the reason we're not working less is basically because the ruling class has figured out that a happy, productive population with free time goes against their interests. They want people financially enslaved so they don't have time to pose a threat.
I have simpler explanation. Bullshit jobs exist because people don't always make decisions based on profound understanding of matter at hand, instead they are guided by buzzwords, rules of thumb and gut feelings.
I'll start with a story. Ten years ago I was a junior software developer at big corporation that was developing operating system for smartphones that was supposed to be compete with Android and iOS. One of projects I worked on was to reduce amount of memory system was using right after reboot, without any application started and buttons pressed.
I made one menu to load only when it is accessed, therefore improving said metric. That was complete bullshit, since that menu was first thing user would access anyway, but this (and many other similar bullshit patches) enabled marketing papers to claim that new operating system uses less memory than iOS.
I remember how soul-crushing it was to spend week after week seeking for opportunities for such bullshit, but I do believe that this marketing crap would have determined decisions of some customers. Because I can't expect everybody who buys a smartphone to understand how to measure memory usage properly. "Lies, damned lies and statistics".
I am no better. Yes, I am well-versed in software engineering, willing to lecture again and again that there is no such thing in computing as "one size fits all", yet when it comes to other stuff, I switch to "no idea, just give me good $foo" mode. I chose my multi-cooker on Amazon because it had word "rice" in description, although any would probably do.
Some people do their research better than others, but I don't think there is anybody who can see beyond the veil all the time and can't be mislead in any way.
Our bullshit jobs actually have a purpose -- to be a number in a report or a slide in a presentation, leading somebody to buy, sell, invest, approve, donate, whatever.
I wish capitalism actually was as ruthless and rational as pictured in economics textbooks, but humans are neither rational nor omniscient, they don't make best use of information available. As long that the case, bullshit jobs will be used to create the right impression.
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