Culturing honesty

There’s been a lot of ink spilled over the late anthropologist David Graeber’s theory of “bullshit jobs”. This theory, if you’re unfamiliar with it, is basically just that some large percentage of jobs in America don’t need to exist and are just make-work. 

David Graeber’s proof of this is mostly just based on the vibes of an underemployed academic, and he includes obviously useful jobs like:

1. Receptionists, who are crucial to keeping any office functioning and not interrupted by strangers

2. Lobbyists, who have taken on much of the technical responsibility for writing America’s laws

3. Programmers who fix other people’s code, who aren’t bullshit in any sense

4. Corporate compliance officers, who make sure laws are being followed, which seems like a crucial function for a large corporation

5. Middle management, who are important for any large company that can’t have a flat structure 

So, his theory isn’t really worth spilling more ink on. One might even say that the only really bullshit job belongs to the guy who calls other jobs “bullshit”, although he’s provided me with a great intro to this essay, so I wouldn’t go that far. Regardless, I don’t think it’s worth discussing Mr. Graeber¹ as a serious academic. What I would say, though, is that it’s interesting his work struck such a chord with people. As he wrote himself, people from all over the world wrote to him after his essay went viral to express their concern that their jobs were, in fact, bullshit.

I find this interesting because it’s obvious that one of two things are possible. Either people know for a fact that their jobs are bullshit, and they don’t have anyone better to express this to than David Graeber (like, say, their boss, who presumably might fire them over this revelation or make them do actual work). Or, people fear that their jobs are bullshit, and preferred to get reassurance from David Graeber than figure out if they actually are.

I tried to get Claude to help me prompt DallE to make an image that would be evocative without being literal. Also, I asked it to have cats in it. Claude says this image “symbolizes the delicate balance between meaningful work (represented by scientific and engineering elements) and potentially meaningless tasks (the gray cubes and aimless paper-pushing)”.

Either way, it comes down to an issue of honesty. In the first case, people are being dishonest with their bosses or customers. In the second, people are afraid to be honest with themselves. Now, the news that people can be afraid to face or communicate hard or inconvenient truths is probably not that earth shattering to you. However, it is indicative of a cultural problem. These people would quite literally rather waste their one precious life than be honest with themselves or others.

What I find interesting is that these people don’t see it that way. Having known quite a few people who are in jobs that they think are bullshit, I’ve found that, universally, they tend to assume that all jobs (at least those they could possibly hold) are bullshit. For them, it’s not worth switching jobs to another job they’d like better because that job, as well, must be bullshit.

And this is a learned assumption. These people have learned from some early formative experiences that cooperative human endeavor, the sole deciding factor that lets us live in our utopia of practically unlimited food and water, climate control, and freedom from predators and disease, is bullshit. That’s pretty weird.

I think it’s because deciding things are bullshit or to be dishonest is such an energy saver that, comparatively, anyone who enters into that mode has an advantage. They can free-ride on the hard work of others, never facing the hard choices that come with being honest or trying to make meaningful choices in the world. They’re much like, well, say, an anthropologist who comes up with a fun theory, and cherry picks the existing data to support it to sell a book, justifying it by saying that this small dishonesty is worth it to support Marxism and/or anarchism, two causes which he purports to support by, uh, signing a lucrative contract with the multibillion publishing conglomerate Simon and Schuster, and then rides off into the sunset with a bunch of money and fame until his unfortunately early death.

Given all the incentives that do push one towards dishonesty and treating everything like it’s bullshit, and given the importance of being honest for all the most crucial parts of human society², it strikes me how important inculcating a culture of honesty is in every part of society. From teaching children not to cheat on tests, to showing apprentices not to cut corners, to demanding a high standard of publically ethical and honest behavior from our leaders, especially those in particularly visible high up positions³.

And we need to cherish subcultures where honesty is rewarded, especially when it comes at personal cost. Scientists who admit when their experiments fail; engineers who shut down the production line when it’s clear the products have a flaw; startup founders who return their investors’ money when the product doesn’t work. These people, and these cultures, who don’t think that their work is bullshit and who aren’t dishonest with their bosses, their customers, or themselves, they are who drive civilization forwards and make the world better.

Bullshit grows where we let it and rots if left untreated. It cannot be tolerated and must never be allowed to spread. And we certainly should never let anyone claim that bullshit is already everywhere and there’s no use in fighting it, because that’s the most pernicious bullshit of all.

1. Although if you do want a fun takedown, read Byrne Hobart: “Bullshit Jobs” is a Terrible, Curiosity-Killing Concept (thediff.co)

2. Like building planes or space shuttles, a concept which Boeing is learning the hard way again and again.

3. If this seems like political commentary, then, you know, shoe fits and all that.