“Bullshit jobs” is a terrible, curiosity-killing concept

Thought‑terminating clichés & curiosity

• Several commenters link “bullshit jobs,” “signaling,” and “enshittification” to thought‑terminating clichés that shut down inquiry.
• Concern: labeling something as signaling or bullshit lets people avoid understanding complex motives, structures, or tradeoffs.
• Others argue these concepts still have analytical value if used carefully, not as blanket dismissals.
• Debate over whether people have any obligation to be curious; some see curiosity as essential to good work and life, others see it as optional and secondary to pay.

What counts as a “bullshit job”?

• Confusion and disagreement on definitions; many feel people project their own frustration or ignorance onto other roles.
• Distinction raised between:
  • “Shit” jobs: unpleasant but clearly useful (e.g., food service, cleaning).
  • “Bullshit” jobs: roles perceived by incumbents as pointless, or that solve problems created by the system itself.
• Self‑reports are seen by some as authoritative (“they know their job is useless”), by others as often mistaken.

Concrete examples & edge cases

• Food service: some insist it’s non‑bullshit because value to customers is obvious; others feel replaceable by customer self‑service or tech and thus useless.
• Actuaries: defended as clearly necessary, though others note many system‑generated roles (e.g., tax lawyers, complex medical billing) would vanish under different institutional arrangements and so are “bullshit” in a systemic sense.
• Medical billing and tax optimization are cited as archetypal jobs created by bad system design, not intrinsic human needs.

Twitter/X, FAANG, and overstaffing

• Musk’s 80% layoff at Twitter is used as evidence both for and against widespread bullshit jobs:
  • One side: service still runs, so many roles were unnecessary.
  • Other side: technical uptime is not the same as business health; ad sales, moderation, UX, and reliability have degraded.
• Broader point: many tech orgs can “keep the lights on” with far fewer engineers if they stop building new features.
• FAANG hiring/layoffs, “use your budget or lose it,” and headcount as a status symbol fuel claims of empire‑building and make‑work roles.

Unions, strikes, and worker value

• Transit and other public workers’ ability to shut down cities is cited as proof their jobs aren’t bullshit.
• Counterpoint: that power comes from unionized employment structure, not intrinsic job traits.
• Disagreement over whether unions effectively protect workers; some share anecdotes of harmful or pointless strikes and weak apprenticeship/benefit structures, others argue unions still improve long‑run compensation and security.

Reception of the book vs. the critique article

• Many commenters think the critique article badly misreads or strawmans the book, ignoring its nuance and empirical work.
• Others find the book itself economically naïve or incurious about standard explanations for firm behavior.
• Several recommend reading the original essay/book directly; skepticism expressed toward secondary takes that discourage engaging with the primary text.