Bullshit Jobs excerpt: using rhythm games to escape office boredom

 


“Young people in Europe and North America in particular, but increasingly throughout the world, are being psychologically prepared for useless jobs, trained in how to pretend to work, and then by various means shepherded into jobs that almost nobody really believes serve any meaningful purpose.”

 

[Update Sep 2020: R.I.P David Graeber – a truly radical, global thinker]


 

Quick description of how I used Indian rhythm games to help keep my mind alive through the grey mundanities of my former life as an office worker. Written (originally under a pseudonym) for Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, radical anthropologist David Graeber’s insightfully provocative 2018 book on the rise of meaningless employment under late capitalism.

 

bs jobs excerpt

 

[Full submission to follow some time soon…hopefully]

George Howlett is a London-based musician and writer. I play guitar, tabla, and santoor, loosely focusing on jazz, rhythm, and global improvisation. Above all I seek to enthuse fellow sonic searchers, interconnecting fresh vibrations with the human voices, cultures, and passions behind them.

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Recently I’ve worked long-term for Darbar, Guitar World, and Ragatip, and published research into tuning and John Coltrane’s raga notes. I’ve written for Jazzwise, JazzFM, and The Wire, and also record, perform, and teach in local schools. Site menu above, follow below, & get in touch here!

BlackLineNARROWER

—guitar & global music—

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