Comment by coldtea

>but when I read the book a few years back, I was skeptical that any mechanism to create bullshit jobs could arise from a system as inherently Darwinian as capitalism.

Well, here's the problem: Darwinian doesn't mean evolution towards something specific (i.e. more efficiency).

In fact, regression (in certain skills, etc.) is just as likely (like cockroaches, not humans, being the fittest in a certain environment).

So, Darwinian, broadly and metaphorically speaking (like the author) just means more fitness for survival.

And this is totally compatible with BS jobs, when it comes to the survival of the overal system.

One specific attribute of capitalism today is also that it's always somebody else's money, what with public companies, and golden parachutes, and bailouts, and such - and the rise of pharaonic middle management.