Abolition of Work
by Bob Black, Bruno Borges · first published 2024
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A polemical essay arguing that work causes most misery and that play and leisure should replace it. Its blunt, funny style and radical case against work go deeper than typical critiques.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us" by Dan Pink: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive:_The_Surprising_Truth_Ab... * "Punished by Rewards" by Alfie Kohn: http://www.alfiekohn.org/punished-rewards/ * "The Abolition of Work" by Bob Black (which reflects your point in another comment on "giving in to a job"): https://web.archive.org/web/20161031034600/http://whywork.or... "Only a small and diminishing fraction of work serves…
on “Things Many People Find Too Obvious to Have Told You Already” ↗This is like a proper academic-language version of Bob Black's largely superior text, The Abolition of Work, which was posted here a few days ago and promptly disappeared. Google it. Read Bob Black's essay, which is shorter and more blunt than this one.
on “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs” ↗…anything about Diogenes, but listened to several podcasts of philosophers talking about Diogenes. Also going to advise reading Bullshit Jobs by Graeber. Add "In praise of idleness" by Bertrand Russel. The Abolition of Work by Bob Black. The subreddit /r/antiwork is quite extreme but has good info on their wiki https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/wiki/index
on “Job Openings Are at Record Highs. Why Aren’t Unemployed Americans Filling Them?” ↗…employee can be remarkably liberating. After reading this brutally frank book, no one who works for a living will ever think the same way about his or her job." An even deeper point though from "The Abolition of Work" by Bob Black: https://web.archive.org/web/20080702023453/http://www.whywor... "Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost any evil you’d care to name comes from working or from…
on “The Burnout Machine” ↗…exchange economy that is having problems." Beyond not mentioning a Basic Income, one other thing which Bernie Sanders' comments overlook is the potential for transforming needed "work" into "play": "The Abolition of Work" by Bob Black, 1985 https://web.archive.org/web/20080702023453/http://www.whywor... Rethinking our fundamental social instutions from an abundance perspective as I did in "Post-Scarcity Princeton" in…
on “AI Could Wipe Out the Working Class – Sen. Bernie Sanders [video]” ↗Also see Bob Black's "The Abolition of Work": https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/bob-black-the-abolit...
on “Bertrand Russell's argument for idleness is more relevant than ever” ↗Read ' Bob Black - The Abolition of Work ' I've never been the same since... http://www.zpub.com/notes/black-work.html "No one should ever work. Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost any evil you'd care to name comes…
on “I don't want to work very hard” ↗If anyone is interested in reading more about 'Refusal of Work' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refusal_of_work - I would recommend The Right To Be Lazy (1883) by Paul Lafarge The Abolition of Work (1985) by Bob Black
on “In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell (1932) [pdf]” ↗…Tense Present by David Foster Wallace: https://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/HarpersMagazine-2001-... This really changed how I think about communication and language, which is used for everything. Abolition of Work by Bob Black http://www.primitivism.com/abolition.htm This essay persuaded me to change a belief which was previously core to my belief system: that work is an inherent good. I don't think that his view…
on “Ask HN: What books changed the way you think about almost everything?” ↗I would suggest reading Bob Black's The Abolition of Work and Other Essays, which is in the sidebar along with other antiwork books. He is both brilliant and very funny as he cuts through the bullshit around work and other topics. I especially enjoy his essay…
on “In Praise of Idleness (1932)” ↗…creativity and fun, and the maximization thereof, bring to mind a gem of an essay from Bob Black that I first encountered back in the days when 640K was enough for anyone. Dinosaur days. It's called "The Abolition of Work" and I've always assumed that most nerds like me had probably read it but maybe not. It made a big, and lasting impression on me, and I suspect that many here who feel drawn to this HN thread will find…
on “Never waste your midlife crisis” ↗If one wants to go deeper, and more radical, may I recommend Bob Black's "The Abolition of Work": https://www.inspiracy.com/black/abolition/abolitionofwork.ht...
on “In Praise of Idleness (1932)” ↗…David Graeber. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs Or the 2009 essay "The Gervais Principle": https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-... Or the more radical 1985 essay "The Abolition of Work" by Bob Black. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Abolition_of_Work
on “Amazon grows to over 750k robots, replacing 100k humans” ↗As Bob Black pointed out in The Abolition of Work, if a job is worth doing, someone would do it, whether or not they got paid to do it. Charlie Stross made that point in his essay - he'd continue to be a writer even if he didn't need to write for a living.…
on “A nation of slaves” ↗…“work.” Think about how many people enjoy gardening, fishing, carpentry, cooking, and even computer programming just for their own sake. What if that kind of activity could provide for all our needs? - The Abolition of Work : https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/bob-black-the-abolit... : > No one should ever work. Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost any evil you’d care to name comes from…