“Many creative writers keep journals; the sociologist’s need for systematic reflection demands it.” -C. Wright Mills

PM points to this Macleans article berating Ontario’s Premier for spending $2.2m for a 36-page inspirational text from UofT’s business school dean and Richard Florida. The conclusion?

In the end, Martin and Florida have done little more than restate Bertrand Russell’s witticism about work being of two kinds: “First, altering the position of matter at or near the earth’s surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid.”

Nothing much has changed since Russell wrote that in 1932; the only difference now is that creative elaborations on that basic insight sell for millions of dollars.