As I’ve grown up and learned more about the world, I’ve learned that it’s not so much that no one knows what they’re doing, but more that most people don’t have clarity about why we do what we do. We’re disconnected from our work and we don’t receive it’s benefits personally. Instead we exchange it for currency, so we don’t know if we’ve “hit the mark” or not. Is my work accomplishing it’s intended purpose? Who the hell knows. I just try to do this thing and keep my boss/teacher happy. We live in a hyper real world where the appearance of accomplishment is a standin for the real thing, so it’s like we’re throwing darts blindfolded at a target. And don’t get me wrong, we might be doing everything correctly and benefiting the world, but at the end of the day what we see is not it’s benefits, but it’s supposed equivalent currency. We’re all going through the motions and just hoping it’s “right”, and that can feel indistinguishable from “I don’t know what I’m doing”
You perfectly described Marxist alienation and commodity fetishism.
Alienation:
Karl Marx’s theory of alienation describes the experience of human life as meaningless or the human self as worthless in modern capitalist society. It is Marx’s earliest recognizable attempt at a systematic explanatory theory of capitalism.
The theoretical basis of alienation is that a worker invariably loses the ability to determine life and destiny when deprived of the right to think (conceive) of themselves as the director of their own actions; to determine the character of said actions; to define relationships with other people; and to own those items of value from goods and services, produced by their own labour.
The theory of commodity fetishism (German: Warenfetischismus) originated from Karl Marx’s references to fetishes and fetishism in his analyses of religious superstition, and in the criticism of the beliefs of political economists. Marx borrowed the concept of “fetishism” from The Cult of Fetish Gods (1760) by Charles de Brosses, which proposed a materialist theory of the origin of religion. Moreover, in the 1840s, the philosophic discussion of fetishism by Auguste Comte, and Ludwig Feuerbach’s psychological interpretation of religion also influenced Marx’s development of commodity fetishism.
Marx’s first mention of fetishism appeared in 1842, in his response to a newspaper article by Karl Heinrich Hermes, which defended Germany on religious grounds. Hermes agreed with the German philosopher Hegel in regarding fetishism as the crudest form of religion. Marx dismissed that argument and Hermes’s definition of religion as that which elevates man “above sensuous appetites”. Instead, Marx said that fetishism is “the religion of sensuous appetites”, and that the fantasy of the appetites tricks the fetish worshipper into believing that an inanimate object will yield its natural character to gratify the desires of the worshipper. Therefore, the crude appetite of the fetish worshipper smashes the fetish when it ceases to be of service.
As I’ve grown up and learned more about the world, I’ve learned that it’s not so much that no one knows what they’re doing, but more that most people don’t have clarity about why we do what we do. We’re disconnected from our work and we don’t receive it’s benefits personally. Instead we exchange it for currency, so we don’t know if we’ve “hit the mark” or not. Is my work accomplishing it’s intended purpose? Who the hell knows. I just try to do this thing and keep my boss/teacher happy. We live in a hyper real world where the appearance of accomplishment is a standin for the real thing, so it’s like we’re throwing darts blindfolded at a target. And don’t get me wrong, we might be doing everything correctly and benefiting the world, but at the end of the day what we see is not it’s benefits, but it’s supposed equivalent currency. We’re all going through the motions and just hoping it’s “right”, and that can feel indistinguishable from “I don’t know what I’m doing”
You may already know this, but if you don’t:
You perfectly described Marxist alienation and commodity fetishism.
Alienation:
Karl Marx’s theory of alienation describes the experience of human life as meaningless or the human self as worthless in modern capitalist society. It is Marx’s earliest recognizable attempt at a systematic explanatory theory of capitalism.
The theoretical basis of alienation is that a worker invariably loses the ability to determine life and destiny when deprived of the right to think (conceive) of themselves as the director of their own actions; to determine the character of said actions; to define relationships with other people; and to own those items of value from goods and services, produced by their own labour.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx's_theory_of_alienation?wprov=sfla1
Commodity fetishism:
The theory of commodity fetishism (German: Warenfetischismus) originated from Karl Marx’s references to fetishes and fetishism in his analyses of religious superstition, and in the criticism of the beliefs of political economists. Marx borrowed the concept of “fetishism” from The Cult of Fetish Gods (1760) by Charles de Brosses, which proposed a materialist theory of the origin of religion. Moreover, in the 1840s, the philosophic discussion of fetishism by Auguste Comte, and Ludwig Feuerbach’s psychological interpretation of religion also influenced Marx’s development of commodity fetishism.
Marx’s first mention of fetishism appeared in 1842, in his response to a newspaper article by Karl Heinrich Hermes, which defended Germany on religious grounds. Hermes agreed with the German philosopher Hegel in regarding fetishism as the crudest form of religion. Marx dismissed that argument and Hermes’s definition of religion as that which elevates man “above sensuous appetites”. Instead, Marx said that fetishism is “the religion of sensuous appetites”, and that the fantasy of the appetites tricks the fetish worshipper into believing that an inanimate object will yield its natural character to gratify the desires of the worshipper. Therefore, the crude appetite of the fetish worshipper smashes the fetish when it ceases to be of service.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodity_fetishism?wprov=sfla1
Wasn’t following you at first but then I kept reading. You’ve described imposter syndrome pretty well.