Wow, I've never seen together all these ideas like this (capitalism / protestant work ethic, how it looks internally & through former colonies, & its relationship to fear). Really makes me think. Thank you!
Working on a piece about the YouTube Algorithm, I spent weeks reading AI papers & studying every interview with YouTubers & Google engineers. After all that, one of my biggest takeaways was that people obsess of the Algorithms, not because it is necessary to succeed in their vision, but precisely because no one knows what good, meaningful work is -- let alone how to do it. And so we make The Algorithm -- & "winning" at it -- the focus. The Algorithm isn't actually a gatekeepers to meaningful success -- it's the idol upon which we hoist our own anxiety of not knowing knowing what is worth succeeding at in the first place.
Long term, I propose we label this sort of intense striving without a sense of meaning "underfunctioning". ;) And call taking 2 days to relax with a good book, then writing a blog that really maters to us, "overfunctioning". Because you're doing so much more of what matters than our culture demands.
Thank you David! Charles Eames once said "Everything connects eventually" and I think about that a lot in relation to my writing practice. It really feels like the essays are an arbitrary length and they exist in this cluster of ideas that I keep returning to and slicing in different ways.
I LOVE your point that we idolize metrics because they make the target tangible. You are so right. And honestly, given how painful it is to work without meaning, without an anchor, it's so so understandable.
And haha -- I wish we could call Lerner and tell her that. I also wonder what she'd say about these words in relation to our workaholic culture.
Thank you again for reading, I love getting your comments and I cannot WAIT for that YT Algorithm piece to hit my editor's desk 🤓
Wow, I've never seen together all these ideas like this (capitalism / protestant work ethic, how it looks internally & through former colonies, & its relationship to fear). Really makes me think. Thank you!
Working on a piece about the YouTube Algorithm, I spent weeks reading AI papers & studying every interview with YouTubers & Google engineers. After all that, one of my biggest takeaways was that people obsess of the Algorithms, not because it is necessary to succeed in their vision, but precisely because no one knows what good, meaningful work is -- let alone how to do it. And so we make The Algorithm -- & "winning" at it -- the focus. The Algorithm isn't actually a gatekeepers to meaningful success -- it's the idol upon which we hoist our own anxiety of not knowing knowing what is worth succeeding at in the first place.
Long term, I propose we label this sort of intense striving without a sense of meaning "underfunctioning". ;) And call taking 2 days to relax with a good book, then writing a blog that really maters to us, "overfunctioning". Because you're doing so much more of what matters than our culture demands.
Thank you David! Charles Eames once said "Everything connects eventually" and I think about that a lot in relation to my writing practice. It really feels like the essays are an arbitrary length and they exist in this cluster of ideas that I keep returning to and slicing in different ways.
I LOVE your point that we idolize metrics because they make the target tangible. You are so right. And honestly, given how painful it is to work without meaning, without an anchor, it's so so understandable.
And haha -- I wish we could call Lerner and tell her that. I also wonder what she'd say about these words in relation to our workaholic culture.
Thank you again for reading, I love getting your comments and I cannot WAIT for that YT Algorithm piece to hit my editor's desk 🤓