[refulgentis]

> So many people are doing bullshit jobs that tick things over, sitting there wishing to be put to use for some intrinsically motivating purpose

We're a generation of men raised by Fight Club—I'm wondering if a self-induced mass-culling event is really the answer we need.

[dredmorbius]

Before Fight Club was the Hitchhiker's Guide "B-Ark". Before the B-Ark was Robads 1000 Clowns. Before 1000 Clowns was Chaplin's Modern Times. Before Modern Times was ... pretty much all of Dickens's ouvre. And that potted list omits much.

Laughing at the futility of present-day enterprise, whatever the present or the enterprise, is a long-standing tradition.

And really no need to call for culls, directly or otherwise.

[refulgentis]

Dickens ~= Fight Club is a tough sell. :)

Most obvious reason: Dickens characters would be quite bemused by the idea we need to Retvrn from "email jobs" because something something we need meaning. :)

[dredmorbius]

Both are criticisms of the established economic order. I'm not trying to draw much further relation.

Again: there's a great deal other work. Erewhon, Looking Backwards, The Dispossessed come to mind. Arguably much of Neal Stephenson's work. Earlier, Gulliver's Travels and More's Utopia, though pre-industrial satire has a different vibe to it.

This turned up in search: Dystopian books on economy and work culture: <https://bookriot.com/dystopian-books-about-the-economy/>