Recently read a nice book on how people created Newton's mythology, and this slack channel inspired me to write a bit on religious influences on tech culture. https://gist.github.com/tjg/a8bb5821c247b413af95ee0fc452b404
Above all, I have a much better understanding why you're just innocently reading a math book, and the author suddenly has to pay respects to Gauss or Newton. ("Maybe I'll make my own opinions on their work, thankyouverymuch. You can stick to ideas, not celebrities.")
@tjg: Do you mean in that text that companies hire technologists to perform work that has no real use, but they think it does as in religious fiction?
That's an interesting point to explore, but my intention was that the miracles actually tend to work.
But you definitely have a good point about work with no real use: http://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/
@tjg: Ah yes, that piece writes about how "services" explode into more "services" instead of freeing up hours to enjoy your own projects
@tjg: it's a weird phenomenon
How could it be that we automate so many things but work more and more hours
Well as long as you enjoy work, that's not a problem 😉
Yeah, I heard that as an argument for Basic Income. Our kind of overwork is dangerous to us. In terms of endlessly pulling stuff out of the earth, daily commutes...
@tjg: I think basic income is a good idea. Less 'useless' work, less unhappy people (who can do good things instead, like caring for their parents), less resources needed
Yeah, I imagine many would opt to work on longevity/immortality research, which is one way to care for one's parents.