[xwdv]

God I hate this stuff. It preaches the wrong ideas to people and then screws them up for life.

We need to think less about “the future of work” and think more about “the history of work”.

What people need to embrace is the Discipline Economy. It’s simple. Find something that is of value to society and pays enough, then work everyday to be better and better at it until you reach your maximum potential, and you will be rewarded. No passion required. You just get up and do it, every workday. And at the end of the day, clock out and go do whatever you want.

You don’t need to be doing something you like, you need to be doing something that sustains you. If that also happens to be something you like, then that is a gift, similar to being tall, or smart, or attractive. Life will be easier for you then, but that is not the default. Someone still has to shovel the piles of shit or dig a ditch.

The Passion Economy appeals to people who don’t ask what they can do for society, but rather what society can do for them. It’s selfish, and unsustainable. Passion doesn’t last forever. Discipline does.

[mark_l_watson]

I sort of agree with you, we tend to develop passion for things after we achieve a high skill level. That said, it is OK to peruse things that we might be passionate about but not good at. I am not a good musician. After forty years, I mostly gave up on playing the guitar, and took up two easier instruments, didgeridoo and Native American flute. I will never be really good at these instruments either but it felt good when friends asked me to play didgeridoo at their wedding when the bride was walking down the aisle.

I have a keen interest in future society/economy/technology and in a world with guaranteed minimum income, I hope people spend time on niche passion projects and not just binge on Netflix and HBO.

[treerock]

> Find something that is of value to society and pays enough, then work everyday to be better and better at it until you reach your maximum potential, and you will be rewarded.

Unless society changes what it values, at which point you are fucked.

https://genius.com/Pete-seeger-john-henry-lyrics

[xwdv]

Your passion for something can also fade, and then you are even more fucked. At least changes in society’s values happen gradually.

[blue_devil]

>>Someone still has to shovel the piles of shit or dig a ditch.

I strongly believe that if you stay curious and pay attention to your work, any work can be(come) meaningful and rewarding.

Devise your own faster/better/lighter shovel or digger, or your own process for shovelling or digging etc.

The human mind is beautiful in that if you "feed" it the right way, it outputs the most amazing stuff.

[xwdv]

Have you ever dug a ditch?

[ticmasta]

Work hard? Incremental progress? Contribute to society?

How can you possibly hope to disrupt work with these types of values? </s>