It's interesting to map this study onto my own experiences.

Back in 2020 I took on a new job with some giant multinational corp. As my country was in peak lockdown at this point, the position was WFH.

Shortly after I joined, the project I'd specifically been hired for got canned and they didn't know what to do with me. I was doing virtually no work, from home, on full pay. I'd average perhaps 5 hours of easy work per week. For all intents and purposes, I was on pretty lucrative stimmies.

You'd think this would be the dream, and for the first few weeks I certainly thought so too. You'd think hey, I now have all this time to chase my passions! Learn new skills! And the company knows my situation, they know I'm just sitting here twiddling my thumbs. It's not immoral at all.

But there's something incredibly corrosive about receiving money you didn't truly earn. Especially against a backdrop where families, small businesses and entrepreneurs were struggling mightily with the lockdown nonsense. I felt like a parasite. I had no drive. Got fat. Listened to 1000s of hours of Bitcoin podcasts probably.

This went on for almost a year. I got shuttled from project to project, but never did I need work for a solid week. Eventually I gave up and handed in my notice.

Now I work for a start-up, in the office, and put in around 50 hours / week. Similar pay. I'm far, far happier this way. I really do think humans are beasts of burden and need a purpose, something to struggle against.