[whateveridunno]

...which is exactly his point. People will do things that are objectively not in their best interest (become scientists, poets, or French poetry critics) because we've been strongly inculcated in that whole "do what you love" "everything is worth it as long as [you touch someone with your art] [your science is remembered after you die] [insert reason here]" philosophy. Which means those fields get a free pass to treat their members horribly, and people will still gravitate towards them in huge numbers, because "do what you love" is so strongly ingrained in us.

A perfect example is that game dev crunch article that was going around a few days ago: if you're complaining about 80 hour work weeks you don't really love what you're doing!

[wolfram74]

That's only about a third of the point, it's also criticizing not being aware of the flip side "But that too is our culture: everyone else’s dream is a delusion. Mine is a tale of noble perseverance. Everybody else should be practical." And then the author goes on to mention how extending the same generosity we give ourself with regards to pursuing higher purposes would probably be helpful in the long run.

[inverba]

How are you defining "objective" in relation to someone's inherently subjective utility function? That makes no sense.

I understand the rest of your point, but the underlying assumption is very wrong.

[whateveridunno]

I agree it's an unfortunate word choice, but I couldn't think of a better way to word it without making the post significantly longer and I assumed most people would understand what I meant. If you have a better way to phrase it, I'd love to hear it- I don't say that sarcastically.

[euyyn]

The alternative being to do something you don't love?

[eli_gottlieb]

Well yes, and get treated decently for it.