in nuclear they have something called a "dose monkey": a low-level contractor payed a lump sum to work until they max out their allowed yearly radiation dose. sometimes that's months. sometimes it's a day

consider: "to what extent am i a dose-monkey for stress?"

dose monkeys are fungible. you throw em at a problem and when they expire you get more

otoh, at least the dose monkeys are assured a set income and a metered total dose no matter how long they last

stress monkeys better hope they've saved some $ by the time they burn out

lotta online video (my own niche) runs on a stress monkey model. overworkers outcompete everyone else and provide outsize value for a moment, then they flame out. YouTube doesn't care much and TikTok doesn't care at ALL. there are more monkeys chomping at the bit

gig economy is stress-monkey driven. uber drivers try to make it work, hustle like hell, burn out, get replaced by fresh faced newcomers. anything with low barrier to entry and fungibility of workers is prone to stress monkey dynamic

the best stress monkey jobs are the ones that churn by graduating you to more sustainable, less taxing jobs

is this how it actually works tho? i don't work at a company but it seems possible to me that they're mostly big ladders of stress monkey jobs, no upward relief in sight

here's the other thing: safe radiation dose is pretty consistent across the population, and the safety margins are incredibly stringent, micromort-wise

imagine if dose monkeys had vastly different tolerances and just kept working until they got acute radiation poisoning

since many jobs ride the edge of sustainability, many more jobs are stress monkey jobs if you're a little less organized or resilient

ADHD? Good luck finding a job that ISN'T a stress monkey job

it's not always about how much you believe in the thing. believing in the thing, if the source of the belief is a negative/guilty/fearful mindset, can massively up the monkey factor

anyways i don't have a great solution to this

im constitutionally opposed to being a stress monkey

but still working out how to do that

btw, talk to this guy if you wanna know more about the internals of nuclear power, im just some guy who occasionally drinks with his cousins in nuclear energy i don't know shit

for those asking, here's an article on japanese dose monkeys, though it doesn't call them that

tbh i have no idea how widely used the term is. it might be as restricted as the internal culture of a single nuclear plant

apjjf.org/2013/11/1/Gabrielle-Hecht/3880/article.html

ahaha

it is already catching on