Phew!

Wordle 313 6/6

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I think in 2022, binging is the form we choose to consume content.

Having said that, I binged the Apple TV series WeCrashed which walks through the life of Adam Neumann, founder and former CEO of WeWork.

It is a really interesting story and I couldn’t believe I wasn’t aware of the situation that unfolded around WeWork’s initial IPO plan.

It could be seen as a “wolf of wall street-y” tale in tech reminding us that you don’t fly close to the Sun without your wings melting.

One particular dialogue that found the long term memory storage in my brain was about mandarins, the civil servants in imperial Chinese governments. I think Indian civil service system mirrors imperial China in this aspect.

Full disclosure, I wouldn’t clear the civil service exams if I tried. I agree that it takes a lot of hard work.

But there are a couple of things I don’t understand:

  1. What is the point of learning a lot of facts? How does it directly translate to your day-to-day work as a civil servant?
  2. What is the “glory” or the “status” you get from these jobs? You are almost always at the mercy of politicians (who in most cases may very well be less qualified to do the job) and the pay is not even that good (considering the effort you put).

Of course, I might be myopic but there should be some truth to this.

Coming back to imperial Chinese mandarins, they were made to clear tests, learn a lot and basically go through a difficult process to get the job. This in turn, gave them a false sense of superiority and power but they were mere puppets of the emperor.

Even though they felt like they had power, they were just speaking the words of the emperor.

Aren’t present day civil servants the same? Aren’t they at the mercy of their governments? Do they hold any actual autonomous power?

I might be ranting just because people treat me condescendingly when I say I work in “IT”.

I leave you on a high note with words of wisdom from a great philosopher: