The playwright George Bernard Shaw famously wrote:
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
So, let’s talk about an extremely unreasonable man: John Harrison, inventor of the “sea watch,” or the “marine chronometer.”
Harrison spent nearly 50 years of his life on his invention, which solved one of the great technological challenges of his time: how to accurately calculate longitude while at sea.
Inaccurate navigation led to calamitous shipwrecks, because calculating longitude required keeping precise track of time, and the watches and clocks of the pre-Harrison era simply couldn’t keep accurate time during long sea voyages.
This was a massive challenge, so important that in 1714, the British Parliament established a £28,000 prize for anyone who could come up with a solution (equivalent of several million dollars today).
996
Harrison wasn’t sufficiently famous during his lifetime for others to chronicle him, which now seems rather ironic, since his entire life was devoted to timekeeping.
As his biographer Dava Sobel summarizes, during one 19-year stretch, “he did nothing but work ... to the detriment of his health and family, since the project kept him from pursuing most other gainful employment.”
Some of you might remember that I wrote about Harris a long time ago on these digital pages—more than four years ago, in fact.
I bring him up today because of “996,” which is having a moment, and which is the colloquial term borrowed from China for the 72-hour work week, better known as 996; the idea of working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.
Now, it’s catching on in the U.S., particularly among AI startups racing to be first to market.
‘Excited!’
According to the New York Times, some companies are noting their expectation for 70-hour-plus workweeks right in their job descriptions. More anecdata:
AI startup Rilla tells candidates right on their application page not to apply unless they’re “excited” about working “70 hrs/week in person.”
Ramp, a “financial operations start-up,” said it observed more corporate credit card transactions happening in San Francisco on Saturdays, suggesting people really are working weekends.
Cognition’s CEO Scott Wu posted on X that the company “routinely” works through weekends and does some of its best work “late into the night.”
Marty Kausas, 28, CEO of AI startup Pylon, posted on LinkedIn that he worked 92 hours a week for three weeks in a row.
‘slaves with no life’
Tech has always had intense work cultures, dating back to the 1960s semiconductor days, as historian Margaret O’Mara told the Times—legendary perks at companies such as Google 20 years ago notwithstanding.
There’s also a sense that to at least some of the 996-ers—or at least the CEOs of the companies they’re working for—work doesn’t feel like work.
“Most of the stuff people count as work I don’t,” Magnus Müller, the 24-year-old CEO of AI startup Browser Use, told The Washington Post. (He lives in a “hacker house” with five teammates, so they can whiteboard at 1 a.m.)
Still, when Müller’s co-founder Gregor Zunic posted about an opening, it got 53,000 views and plenty of criticism.
“996 = slaves with no life,” one person commented.
They want “people who are really obsessed,” as Müller put it, and they want everyone else to self-select out.
To not being one
Look, I’ve worked in startups, and I’ve put in long hours. I’ve also described myself as a “workaholic” many times in this column over the years.
I’ve never invented a clock of any kind, and I doubt I’m going to be an AI pioneer. (Although there’s still time!)
Still, Shaw knew what he was writing about.
Whether “996” sounds brilliant or insane to you probably depends on how you feel about that quote.
Here’s to the unreasonable people around us. And also maybe, to not being one.
7 other things
Both houses of Congress on Tuesday almost unanimously passed a bill to compel the Justice Department to release all files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In a stunning reversal, President Trump has said he would sign the bill, but it’s still unclear anything will be released. Reason: Trump has recently demanded an investigation of Epstein’s ties to former President Clinton and other Democrats, and DOJ can withhold information that it says could interfere with that (or any) investigation. (Axios)
Texas cannot use its new congressional map for the 2026 election and will instead need to stick with the lines passed in 2021, a three-judge panel ruled Tuesday. The decision is a major blow for Republicans. Attorney General Ken Paxton said he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but time is short: Candidates only have until Dec. 8 to file for the upcoming election. (Texas Tribune)
President Trump played down the murder of Saudi journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi as he rolled out the red carpet for Saudi Arabian leader Mohammed bin Salman at the White House, saying “things happen” and admonishing reporters for embarrassing the Saudi prince. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Meta won its high-profile antitrust case against the Federal Trade Commission, which had accused the company of holding a monopoly in social networking. The case, initially filed by the FTC five years ago, centered on Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. “Whether or not Meta enjoyed monopoly power in the past, though, the agency must show that it continues to hold such power now,” the judge wrote. The Court’s verdict today determines that the FTC has not done so.” (CNBC)
How baby boomers got so rich and why their kids are unlikely to catch up. (The Washington Post)
The U.K. plans to pass one of the world’s most sweeping anti-ticket-scalping measures, banning the resale of music, comedy, theater and sports tickets for profit. Fans will still be able to sell tickets to shows they can’t attend, just not at any meaningful markup. (LA Times)
This one is for my daughter. “Wicked: For Good review: This ‘emotionally soaring’ sequel is ‘more captivating’ than the first film.” (BBC)
Thanks for reading. Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this Inc.com. See you in the comments!
996!
Yes, I have done it. I had the badges to show for that period: irritating illnesses or symptoms, lack of sleep, divorce, breakdown of relationships etc.
Would I do it again? Not a chance: no-one ever said on their death bed: "I should have spent more time at the office (working)" - maybe not even Steve Jobs?!?
Now I hope that I am smarter and have that experience, I don't believe that kind of life correlates to wealth and especially not happiness. Balance is everything and unless one stops to smell the roses what is the point?
Now I leverage all kinds of tech and AI to run much leaner, aiming perhaps for:
944
I thought that corporate America was heading towards a four day work week, not going the other way. I spent over 40 years working 5 days a week, then nine more months working 4 days a week, and can tell you that the latter was a lot better. None of these people working 996 will look back on their death bed and be glad they spent all that time working. Youth is really wasted on the young.
I wonder if the world will ever see all the Jeffrey Epstein files. Since nothing ever really disappears off the internet, I am surprised no hacker has gotten hold of all those emails. And I also wonder where all the other victims are, although I do realize just how hard it would be to come forward.