As we’ve dedicated this issue to idiots and their occupations, we can not possibly not post an article titled: “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.” This excerpt from same is absolutely cathartic: “The ruling class has figured out that a happy and productive population with free time on their hands is a mortal danger (think of what started to happen when this even began to be approximated in the ’60s).” OK the whole “ruling class” thing waxes a little too conspiratorial for us, but the rest is spot.
The nation’s worst president, Ronald Reagan, was the one who eventually put a stop to 1960s flower power. He grabbed a Bible, and told those sympathizing with same that working bullshit jobs and buying stuff was the true path to salvation. Jimmy Carter’s solar panels were ripped from the White House roof and 30 years later we were parking Hummers outside our McMansions. Yet 40 years later a harmless-sounding phenomenon called process automation is forcing on the Mighty Makers of Stuff a horrendous Hobson’s choice.
The assembly line robots we all know and love are just the tip of a very large automation iceberg saving industry worldwide billions and soon-to-be trillions of dollars. Information processing employs orders of magnitude more people than manufacturing assembly lines. Nowhere more so than in the US which, despite our government’s best effort, is leading the world in transitioning from a manufacturing economy into an information economy. The Mighty Makers of Stuff are compelled to adopt process automation or risk paying far too much in production costs, aka salaries.
Another Hobsons Choice is being forced on the nation’s workforce: learn a new skill or learn to live with less Stuff. Less stuff means less profit for the Mighty Makers of same and therein lies the rub. Countless well sourced articles forecast a blissfully automated future with mo’ jobs, mo’ money and mo’ stuff for all as the US transitions from a manufacturing to information economy. NBN thinks that transition will only happen if we also move from a consumer economy to a conservation economy. Either way we still have to live with less stuff. Looks like the bums don’t always lose.
