Topic: Useless intellectual work - page 4. (Read 7874 times)
"useless intellectual work" is what takes us to the moon. Intellectuals need a thinking environment. It's philistine to believe otherwise.
Remember, the French are nuts and prone to collective madness. Gald that they didn't have their own hitler figure. It would be really fricking bad and much worse than the German.
Well, we had Napoléon Bonaparte, if such a comparaison worths anything.
PS. Here in France, for instance, 56% of the GDP directly comes from state spending. Some polls showed that 70% of young people would like to become a state employee. And of course, but this is just an impression I've got, it seems to me that as in many countries in the world, the professions that are associated to social success are mostly those who are not related to economics reality (not complying to offer and demand, but to state subvention or direct funding) : physicians, lawers, teachers and such.
Well, it's mathmaticly impossible for everyone to have a 'secure' government job. Protesting, striking and rioting is a result of the belief that the government is the primary source of wealth, and it is only by the greed of the elite that said wealth isn't distributed evenly. There is an old saying in America (and I suspect elsewhere) "there is no such thing as a free lunch". It means that, even if something is free to you, someone has to pay for it. In the case of the French, the government gets the money to pay for public largesse from taxing it's own people. It's a vicious circle, and the strikers are harming the lower classes for the 'right' of living off of the younger working classes for a difference of two years.
This is also why you will not see the same kinds of striking in the US, because once we are out in the streets it's going to be bloody.
Remember, the French are nuts and prone to collective madness. Gald that they didn't have their own hitler figure. It would be really fricking bad and much worse than the German.
The French revolution is an example of French lunacy. They even celebrate it!
PS. Here in France, for instance, 56% of the GDP directly comes from state spending. Some polls showed that 70% of young people would like to become a state employee. And of course, but this is just an impression I've got, it seems to me that as in many countries in the world, the professions that are associated to social success are mostly those who are not related to economics reality (not complying to offer and demand, but to state subvention or direct funding) : physicians, lawers, teachers and such.
Well, it's mathmaticly impossible for everyone to have a 'secure' government job. Protesting, striking and rioting is a result of the belief that the government is the primary source of wealth, and it is only by the greed of the elite that said wealth isn't distributed evenly. There is an old saying in America (and I suspect elsewhere) "there is no such thing as a free lunch". It means that, even if something is free to you, someone has to pay for it. In the case of the French, the government gets the money to pay for public largesse from taxing it's own people. It's a vicious circle, and the strikers are harming the lower classes for the 'right' of living off of the younger working classes for a difference of two years.
This is also why you will not see the same kinds of striking in the US, because once we are out in the streets it's going to be bloody.
Pphysicians' brainpower are wasted. They should be used for scientific research. Train a diagnostician nurse to do the day to day task.
Lawyers could be useful if they help defend you from evil dudes. However, some lawyers are connected with politicians who make laws for the lawyers to make money from.
Teachers with a "teaching degree" are the most useless kind of teachers. They don't apply the scientific method, look for constant feedback, and generally don't know much else unless they're a professor of some kind. Even so, professors are continuously distracted by the research process and getting grants for their research.
Lawyers could be useful if they help defend you from evil dudes. However, some lawyers are connected with politicians who make laws for the lawyers to make money from.
Teachers with a "teaching degree" are the most useless kind of teachers. They don't apply the scientific method, look for constant feedback, and generally don't know much else unless they're a professor of some kind. Even so, professors are continuously distracted by the research process and getting grants for their research.
It's very common to denounce the "digging ditches" fallacy as an absurd way for keynesianists to try to improve work market by offering useless jobs.
I think there is also some kind of useless intellectual work which is used in current bureaucracies and technocracies.
I saw once a movie which was quite subversive, and was trying to question the very basic fondations of our societies. In a scene, several friends were talking about theirs jobs during a dinner. One of them was criticized for its job of physician, and for the huge amount of money he was "earning". At some point, he said something like :
"During our youth, we studied hard to gain our diplomas. It's normal that we now get a reward for that."
This is a strange conception of economics. It sounds that for him, a good salary is a right you earn once with some work, and that is perpetually yours after that. As if intellectual superiority during youth could be a way to obtain a privilegde of being paid every day not for what has been done during this day, but for what was done a long time ago.
Knowledge is not a way to acquire the right not to comply to economic rules. It is supposed to be a way to accomplish oneself, and hopefully to create wealth while doing so.
Sometimes it seems to me that intellectual elites think that there is just no way to earn one's life decently in a free market. Therefore, they think they should organize a way to recognize each other by distinguishing smart young people, in order to give them the right to finance their way of life via taxation and thus by the use of public force.
Of course, this is absurd, because all this brain power is not used for what it is, but just as a way to obtain something that can very much be considered as a priviledge. This is a waste of intellectual resource, but above all, a huge injustice.
PS. Here in France, for instance, 56% of the GDP directly comes from state spending. Some polls showed that 70% of young people would like to become a state employee. And of course, but this is just an impression I've got, it seems to me that as in many countries in the world, the professions that are associated to social success are mostly those who are not related to economics reality (not complying to offer and demand, but to state subvention or direct funding) : physicians, lawers, teachers and such.
I think there is also some kind of useless intellectual work which is used in current bureaucracies and technocracies.
I saw once a movie which was quite subversive, and was trying to question the very basic fondations of our societies. In a scene, several friends were talking about theirs jobs during a dinner. One of them was criticized for its job of physician, and for the huge amount of money he was "earning". At some point, he said something like :
"During our youth, we studied hard to gain our diplomas. It's normal that we now get a reward for that."
This is a strange conception of economics. It sounds that for him, a good salary is a right you earn once with some work, and that is perpetually yours after that. As if intellectual superiority during youth could be a way to obtain a privilegde of being paid every day not for what has been done during this day, but for what was done a long time ago.
Knowledge is not a way to acquire the right not to comply to economic rules. It is supposed to be a way to accomplish oneself, and hopefully to create wealth while doing so.
Sometimes it seems to me that intellectual elites think that there is just no way to earn one's life decently in a free market. Therefore, they think they should organize a way to recognize each other by distinguishing smart young people, in order to give them the right to finance their way of life via taxation and thus by the use of public force.
Of course, this is absurd, because all this brain power is not used for what it is, but just as a way to obtain something that can very much be considered as a priviledge. This is a waste of intellectual resource, but above all, a huge injustice.
PS. Here in France, for instance, 56% of the GDP directly comes from state spending. Some polls showed that 70% of young people would like to become a state employee. And of course, but this is just an impression I've got, it seems to me that as in many countries in the world, the professions that are associated to social success are mostly those who are not related to economics reality (not complying to offer and demand, but to state subvention or direct funding) : physicians, lawers, teachers and such.
Jump to: