Walkaway

by Cory Doctorow

His whole identity rests on the idea that the system is legit and that he earned his position into it fair and square and everyone else is a whiner.” “If they didn’t want to be poor, they shoulda had the sense to be born rich,” Seth said.

“If you do things because you want someone else to pat you on the head, you won’t get as good at it as someone who does it for internal satisfaction. We want the best-possible building. If we set up a system that makes people compete for acknowledgment, we invite game-playing and stats-fiddling, even unhealthy stuff like working stupid hours to beat everyone. A crew full of unhappy people doing substandard work. If you build systems that make people focus on mastery, cooperation, and better work, we’ll have a beautiful inn full of happy people working together well.”

Bucket brigades embodied walkaway philosophy, more emblematic than the consensus wrangle in a circle-of-chairs.

‘job creator’ is someone who figures out how to threaten you with starvation unless you do something you don’t want to do.