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The Curious Intersection Of “AI Wars” And “Bullshit Jobs”
I went to vote this morning in some municipal elections. The early voting period started at 8am. I had dropped off my wife at work, so I was there early — about 7:50am. I had decided to vote in the Plaza Building of Tarrant County, which I believe mostly hosts IT professionals, some sheriff’s deputies, some admins, and admin functions like a county clerk’s office, a county credit union, etc. In the 10–12 minutes I had to wait before I could vote, I saw a lot of people shuffle in. Most had a jug of water, a tote bag, sometimes a Chick-Fil-A bag of nuggets, a lunch sack, usually headphones in, etc. They slogged to their desks. When I could see them finish the process, they sat down and slowly began the arc of “getting to work:” turning on the computer, walking to the fridge to deposit things, talking to co-workers, coming back to the computer to log-on, walking away again, etc.
I don’t know what all these people do. They may have very fancy and important and productive jobs. Ideally, they do. But I also know, and most research would seem to indicate, that we exist in a drastic “productivity paradox” right now whereby, despite a ton of “advanced” tech, we’re not really that productive anymore.
