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When most people or organisations are purchasing a service, they're usually mainly concerned about the value that service will bring them. The amount of effort

by lwhi 8y ago

When most people or organisations are purchasing a service, they're usually mainly concerned about the value that service will bring them. The amount of effort required to produce that value, helps to dictate market conditions and the amount of competition; aside from this, ultimately I don't think effort matters so much when you consider it in terms of B2B transactions. Eventually, if a service is easy to supply—competition will drive down the price—and the economic system will readjust accordingly. -- Strangely, it's only when you consider an individual in permanent employment that automation seems to present itself as a dilemma. There's definitely a lot being said about automation. We're regularly told via news outlets that a large percentage of the populations' jobs will be replaced by robots. But aside from the idea of universal basic income; I believe there's a more general trend towards working independently, i.e. in a freelance capacity. Maybe automation becomes far less of a dilemma when this is this case?

tspike 8y ago
It's because there's a conflict of interest in who reaps the benefits. If the company makes the decision to automate, it's clear that it's the company that reaps the benefits. If a worker chooses to automate, it's ambiguous.
- lwhi 8y ago
  Exactly - as a permanent employee, are you being paid for time or value?
jdowner 8y ago
I think you have hit the nail on the head. Maybe it is only paranoia, but over the course of my career I have seen an increased treatment of the employee like chattel. The rights of employees have eroded, almost by choice, through social media, smart phones, monitoring technology. I, personally, had had enough. I decided to remove myself from that environment. I believed that it was dehumanizing and degrading. I started working remotely on contracts. That worked pretty well for a while. But I started working for one company where slowly they wanted me to become more and more like one of their employees and less of an independent contractor. In addition to the work covered by the contract, I was asked to help on other projects or with interviewing. Initially I didn't mind because I wanted to help. After a while I realized what was happening and that is what prompted me to create my own company to work through and to be paid for the end result rather than the time spent on the result. With respect to the article, there are some things that I think you have to accept as an employee. You probably have signed away the rights to the IP you create at your place of employment. After all, you probably did it on company time with company equipment. But ultimately that is the agreement you entered into so you cannot turn around after the fact and complain. However, my sympathy lies with the person that automates their work rather than the employer. I think that the ethical problem is interesting. Recently I watched the Crash Course on "meta ethics" and the problem they considered was a burglar who intended to steal from a little, old lady but inadvertently saved her life instead. And the question is, 'was the burglar good or bad?' I think there is a parallel to the issue of automating your job. I am no philosopher, but I think this is an interesting question.

by lwhi 8y ago

tspike 8y ago

It's because there's a conflict of interest in who reaps the benefits. If the company makes the decision to automate, it's clear that it's the company that reaps the benefits. If a worker chooses to automate, it's ambiguous.

lwhi 8y ago
Exactly - as a permanent employee, are you being paid for time or value?

jdowner 8y ago

I think you have hit the nail on the head. Maybe it is only paranoia, but over the course of my career I have seen an increased treatment of the employee like chattel. The rights of employees have eroded, almost by choice, through social media, smart phones, monitoring technology. I, personally, had had enough. I decided to remove myself from that environment. I believed that it was dehumanizing and degrading. I started working remotely on contracts. That worked pretty well for a while. But I started working for one company where slowly they wanted me to become more and more like one of their employees and less of an independent contractor. In addition to the work covered by the contract, I was asked to help on other projects or with interviewing. Initially I didn't mind because I wanted to help. After a while I realized what was happening and that is what prompted me to create my own company to work through and to be paid for the end result rather than the time spent on the result. With respect to the article, there are some things that I think you have to accept as an employee. You probably have signed away the rights to the IP you create at your place of employment. After all, you probably did it on company time with company equipment. But ultimately that is the agreement you entered into so you cannot turn around after the fact and complain. However, my sympathy lies with the person that automates their work rather than the employer. I think that the ethical problem is interesting. Recently I watched the Crash Course on "meta ethics" and the problem they considered was a burglar who intended to steal from a little, old lady but inadvertently saved her life instead. And the question is, 'was the burglar good or bad?' I think there is a parallel to the issue of automating your job. I am no philosopher, but I think this is an interesting question.