Time to quit your pointless job, become morally ambitious and change the world

You're taking care of your family right now, and that's great, but ask yourself: could you take care of them better by building something that makes the World a better place for them to grow up into, and for their children? Or are you OK with the status quo?

So I'll ask you straight out: why is the choice you've made salary man or nothing? Why can't you get started with a side hustle, and then if it gets traction, you can quit your job and it becomes your main living?

One of the big barriers to this is a lot of investors seem to expect founders to work for nothing in the early years, which is a pretty privileged place to be: most people with dependents just can't do that, so I hear you.

But you don't need VCs. You don't need to live on noodles. You can build something that replaces your day job, you just need to figure it out.

The most efficient charity might be the expenditure of your taxes. I know this evokes a natural visceral reaction among many people, but my data point is that liberal democracies with bureaucratic governments seem to be better off in terms of overall human welfare, than countries that depend on private charity.

I don't think these are mutually exclusive.

In fact, I'd argue that taking care of your family _is_ a morally right and meaningful way of contributing to the world.

There's a reason traditional Christian ethical frameworks often prioritize responsibilities in layers: first to God (or core principles), then to family, then to the neighbor (broader community).

> Now, you might be thinking: that’s all well and good, but I’ve got a full-time job, two kids and a mortgage. I’m happy to recycle and eat some tofu now and then, but a “fundamental transformation”? No thanks.

In that case, moral ambition may not be for you. I mean, once you have a labradoodle, a set of cheese knives or a robot mower, there’s generally no going back

Your dependents will inherit this world

Did you read the article?

The author speaks to this directly:

> Now, you might be thinking: that’s all well and good, but I’ve got a full-time job, two kids and a mortgage. I’m happy to recycle and eat some tofu now and then, but a “fundamental transformation”? No thanks.

In that case, moral ambition may not be for you. I mean, once you have a labradoodle, a set of cheese knives or a robot mower, there’s generally no going back. But if that’s irritating to hear – and I imagine it might be – then by all means, prove me wrong. I have learned that there are always exceptions, and I want to show that you can be that exception. It’s never too late to step up.

Fwiw: the author of the article is 37 years old, is married and has a kid

People also ran out of food a lot.

One theory about the Jacob and Esau story is that it's about a hunter gatherer (Esau) surrendering political power to a farmer (Jacob) because the farmer has much more reliable access to protein than the hunter, meaning that sooner or later, he can gain the upper hand in a negotiation with someone who's otherwise starving.

You might not ascribe value to this type of biblical 'economic history'. But the theory has explanatory power - if it wasn't for food shortages, why would our ancestors have given up 'hanging out together and having a good time' to embrace the toil of hoeing and herding?

In the romantic, non-agrarian era, People very regularly bonked each other with clubs over the head - esp those of a different community.

Then you get to join the 99% of the rest of humanity that views work as something necessary to enable the things they enjoy and find purpose in when they're not working.

Finding purpose, fulfillment or joy in your work is nice, but as you grow as a human, or as the field you're in changes, or as the work dries up... well, you're left thoroughly adrift.

I work in education, a field famous for attracting people based on their own willingness to do good work for good reasons.

And at the end of the day, a job is a job. I do it because it allows me to live a lifestyle close to what I want, while not being soul crushingly boring most of the time.

I came to terms with the fact that I'm not going to change the world. The best I can do is not fuck it up anymore than when I got here. That's about as good as most of us can expect, since most of us are average in many aspects. Without stunning amounts of genius or resources, I think that hoping just to fade into obscurity is the best you can do, really.

It goes to show that the common system of employment, in which we spend our time toward the purposes and meanings of others, tends to provide no purpose or meaning for ourselves.

Yes, there aren't many jobs where you get to change the World. Go make your own, where you actually do.

Why are we all here, on this specific site, if we're not interested in building something ambitious and shaped on our own ideals of what we think the World needs? We might not be right, but it's each of ours, individually.

The people playing this game and winning at the moment are ambitious, but morally... I think we're starting to have some questions about their big ideas, more recently... and so you have the option: go do something to change the game and take the attention away from them.

Big changes come from small ones. If you don't like the status quo, figure out how to change it by building something better. And yes, it's hard, but you don't need to solve the whole thing, particularly when getting started, just a small corner of it.

Agreed. I don't exclude the possibility of large scale changes in society, but until that day, maybe 20% of people who need to work to eat and pay bills can do genuinely valuable work.

I'm sure many of the other 80% would like to do something more positive. Should we really be trying to start a culture war between the two groups, rather than acknowledge that the system isn't great for anyone?

I don’t know the answer but I like the question.

Factory farming.