He writes: “as a society of activeness [or Aktivgesellschaft], achievement society is slowly developing into a doping society. In the meanwhile, the negative expression of brain doping has been replaced by neuro-enhancement. Doping makes it possible to achieve without achieving, so to speak.” The problem is that “The ‘I can’t do it anymore’ leads to a destructive self-reproach and self-aggression”. When we realize that we can not achieve everything we wanted to do, we feel frustrated, but we do not think that society has deceived us but we self-reproach, feeling that we are incapable. Han considers contemporary society the definitive overcoming of the disciplinary society described by the French philosopher Michel Foucault, in which individuals feel observed and are influenced by their neighbors. He calls it the Performance Society because every actor joins an unbridled pursuit of the aim to be socially accepted. Greek edition: Η ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΔΙΑΦΑΝΕΙΑΣ. Athens, Opera publications, 2015, ISBN 978-960-8397-78-1. According to the modern work ethos, dignity, character and purpose are all available to workers if only they engage with their jobs. Employee engagement is also supposedly good for the bottom line. Gallup, which surveys workers on engagement, describes engaged workers in heroic, even saintly terms:

What can we do about it? The key lies in starting to value and prioritize rest and detach ourselves from our self-imposed performance standards. Some helpful tips

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The Emergence of the Mindset Culture Gary Vaynerchuk, 16 April 2015, via the World Travel and Tourism Council Allow yourself to feel the whole wide range of human emotions. Don’t reject or deny those that make you feel uncomfortable. Stop ‘doing to avoid feeling’. About a third of US workers are, according to Gallup. To managers who accept the survey’s findings, the two-thirds of workers who are not engaged are a serious problem. One business writer claims that disengaged employees cost employers an additional 34% of their salary through absenteeism and lost productivity. Another describes them as “silent killers”. Gallup warns that unproductive, complacent workers might even be lurking, unnoticed, in upper management. The actively disengaged will even destroy others’ time and accomplishments. “Whatever the engaged do,” Gallup asserts, “the actively disengaged try to undo.” In short, they are villains, bent on undermining our heroes’ mission. In the sixth chapter, Byung-Chul Han makes a pathological analysis of the tale I brought here, Bartleby's The Scrivener: The Wall Street Story, by Heman Melville to illustrate the history of exhaustion.

To show how we are building this society of tiredness, Han launches his argument from the basis of our achievement society.Absence: On the Culture and Philosophy of the Far East (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2023) ISBN 9781509546206 Q. In this world you describe, one of hyper-consumption where relationships are lost, why is it important to have objects that we love, and to establish rituals?