This is the 6th installment of Strange New Work, a special series that uses speculative fiction to explore radically different work futures.

Find the work you were born to do. Do what you were meant to do. Discover the work that makes you feel alive.

We've all heard these messages. Crack open any career, self-help, or personal development book on your shelf, and you're sure to find a similar message. It seems pretty convenient that our "purpose" in life is work, doesn't it?

In this episode, I unpack the "made for work" message, take it to its logical sci-fi ends, and draw on a key idea in the sociology of work to consider how we might shape the next 40 years into something more humane.

Footnotes:

• "If you 'don't dream of labor,' should organize for socialism" by Caitlyn Clark for Jacobin
• Embassytown by China Miéville
• Translation State by Ann Leckie
• The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
• The New Spirit of Capitalism by Eve Chiapello & Luc Boltanski

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