most people don't care

This is one of the big problems with the world. Not the only one, and not the only way to look at it. But it's everywhere.

• status: a thought I've had for a long time. I don't think the articulation here is very good so far.
• Fundamentally, most people don't care about doing their jobs well. They are not working in pursuit of a goal---most grocery cashiers don't view themselves as helping to feed the world or to bring a smile to someone's day. In their own minds, they're working to get paid. In the company's mind, they're working to fulfill a small subgoal of the ultimate goal of profit.
• I don't care all that much about doing my job at Google well. Or more precisely: I don't care enough about goals beyond my job at Google in order to motivate work at my job. I care about doing 'the job' well however it's defined, because I like to think of myself as smart and capable. But when someone like Luca points out that we're not building very good software, or very well documented software, I don't really care any more.
• Related topics: instrumental goal, the system wants you to have ownership