We don’t work because we have to. We work because it is deeply engrained in our culture that one must work. In his book “The Hacker Ethic” (see sidebar), Prof. Himanen provides a very solid example of cultural anthropology when he digs for the origin of such practice, all the way back to the sixteenth century through Max Weber’s “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”:
This peculiar idea, so familiar to us today, but in reality so little a matter of course, of one’s duty in a calling, is what is most characteristic of the social ethic of capitalistic culture, and is in a sense the fundamental basis of it. [...] Not only a developed sense of responsibility absolutely indispensable, but in general also an attitude which, at least during working hours, is freed from continual calculations of how the customary wage may be earned with a maximum of comfort and a minimum of exertion. Labour must, on the contrary, be performed as if it were an absolute end in itself, a calling
While any original relationship between Protestant faith and the described calling to do God’s work was lost by the time the industrial revolution started, religion had an important role in the “programming” of this cultural activity in our society. Prof. Himanen builds a very convincing argument around one of the most pervasive aspects of our global culture today (work) and goes deep into forecasting how a new generation of “hackers” are challenging the ways of modern society by introducing a new ethic that has very different motivations.
1:00 a.m. It’s not unusual for me to be writing these posts late in the evening. After all, I’m also “programmed” to have a day-job which takes most of my time. But this blog exists because I’m not content with doing just that. As Linus Torvalds describes in the prologue to “The Hacker Ethic”, Linus’ Law states that there are 3 powerful motivators to do everything we do: survival, social ties & entertainment. This blog exists because I have the strong conviction that my readers, although anonymous, form a powerful social network that is ultimately helping me build on the abstract notion of a “Global Culture”, which is ultimately an intellectual exercise, or in Linus words entertainment with capital “E”. The kind that stimulates your brain and drives you to spend long hours trying to explain how everything works.
While blogging is not always this kind of intellectual exercise, the huge number of blogs (50 million, according to Technorati) points to a very important fact: increasing number of people are moving away from their mandated jobs and investing their own time to develop all kinds of personal projects that provide real entertainment. They do it because they can, because they have resolved their most basic needs in life and can afford to be distracted a few hours a day. The Protestan Ethic is becoming obsolete and no longer provides a true incentive for people to participate in the capitalist machinery. The Hacker Ethic described by Prof. Himanen provides a much better framework to explain this phenomenon.
Update: There is a fairly strong meme builging up on the web right now around the notion of quitting your day job and going solo. As far as I can tell it was initiated by Pamela Slim on her blog Escape from Cubicle Nation with her brilliant “My Declaration of Independence”. Already echoed by Kathy Sierra on her Creating passionate users.
[...] in hackers & work culture I had discussed how the boundaries between professional and private live were blurred. First with a [...]
[...] But I’m not trying to revive an old working-class vs. Corporations fight. In the spirit of hackers & work culture, I’m more interested in understanding how some of our programmed habits (i.e. culture) are being deeply challenged by the mechanisms of our modern society and its obsession with the net. In the title “8 hours blog”, blogging is a metaphor for all those little things we do seeking to participate in the global village. It is appropriate that it replaces the 8 hours of recreation that our ancestors were asking for, as having a voice on the web certainly provides all the entertainment that our generation can ask for. While a few years ago critics could’ve convinced most that this participation was meaningless, it is now settled that the future of business depends largely on understanding how people create communities around small niches that, when aggregated, have an important effect known as The Long Tail, first documented by Wired Magazine Editor Chris Anderson. People do this by leaving breadcrumbs of wisdom throughout their electronic pathways, which are then followed by others with similar ideals or values. Whether they use blogs, comments, emails, discussion groups or any other construct of the now known as Web 2.0, the ultimate effect is that of participation. [...]