A ship from Douglas Adams
The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The B Ark is technically named "
Golgafrincham Ark Fleet, Ship B". The Golgafrincham civilization hatched a plan to eliminate its society of its most useless workers, namely its
service sector and its
paper shufflers. The
Golgafrinchans created a legend that their world was about to be destroyed and they needed to build three arks. In Ark A they would put all the
high achievers, the scientists, thinkers, artists, and important leaders. In Ark C they would put all the
blue-collar workers, the people that build and make things. In Ark B they would put everyone else:
hairdressers, TV producers, insurance salesmen,
personnel officers,
security guards,
public relations executives, and management consultants.
The B Ark was constructed, loaded up, and launched first. However, it was automatically set for a collision course with Earth's sun, to finally rid Golgafrincham of these
twits. And naturally, no A or C ark was ever made.
B Ark is also used as
metaphor to indicate the uselessness of one's job:
"Ever since I took this management job, I haven't written a line of
code. I answer emails. I attend meetings. My job is strictly B Ark stuff."
"He contributes even less to
society than I do! He'd certainly be ahead of me in line for the B Ark."