3 ms·

Why is less mobility necessarily "going backwards"? We have the technology for large-scale remote working, but companies still require employees to be on-site m

Why is less mobility necessarily "going backwards"? We have the technology for large-scale remote working, but companies still require employees to be on-site mostly for historical cultural reasons. If the government brought in regulations requiring companies to provide remote working as a choice, unless there was a good reason to require employees to be on-site, I don't think people would see that as "going backwards", so much as being forced to go forwards.

bamboozled 7y ago
Your food is shipped (often by air), you go on holidays by plane, you drive cars etc, stopping that _is_ going backwards. I'm not entirely saying I agree with people just flying around for the sake of it, but let's be honest, putting an end to most transport doesn't exactly seem like progress, let's also think of it this way, the problem is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, not traveling. "companies still require employees to be on-site mostly for historical cultural reasons." If you're a Doctor, truck driver, pilot, builder, fisherman etc, then how do you work remotely? The majority of the workforce can't just work remotely because knowledge workers can. Besides, data-centers also have a large environmental cost, remote work creates it's own mess. I'm also a knowledge worker, but I just choose to live in the city close to my office and ride to work so I have a very small / no carboon footprint from transport. I've also worked remote full-time, it wasn't for me, I think it has it's own set of issues.
- lm28469 7y ago
  None of that is going backward, it's the blowback of maintaining an unsustainable growth way past the equilibrium point. We call that "instability". We got used to it but it doesn't mean it's the way to go. We're acting like spoiled kids discovering that no, you can't have it all, all the time, for free.
harimau777 7y ago
I can see a couple of potential reasons (at least for America): - We have built our society around the assumption of mobility so it could be difficult to just switch overnight. - Remote work doesn't work for many people and/or many situations. - Opportunities are not evenly distributed across the country. - Tolerance of alternative lifestyles is not evenly distributed. - Access to hobbies, cultural institutions, etc. is not evenly distributed.

bamboozled 7y ago

Your food is shipped (often by air), you go on holidays by plane, you drive cars etc, stopping that _is_ going backwards. I'm not entirely saying I agree with people just flying around for the sake of it, but let's be honest, putting an end to most transport doesn't exactly seem like progress, let's also think of it this way, the problem is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, not traveling. "companies still require employees to be on-site mostly for historical cultural reasons." If you're a Doctor, truck driver, pilot, builder, fisherman etc, then how do you work remotely? The majority of the workforce can't just work remotely because knowledge workers can. Besides, data-centers also have a large environmental cost, remote work creates it's own mess. I'm also a knowledge worker, but I just choose to live in the city close to my office and ride to work so I have a very small / no carboon footprint from transport. I've also worked remote full-time, it wasn't for me, I think it has it's own set of issues.

lm28469 7y ago
None of that is going backward, it's the blowback of maintaining an unsustainable growth way past the equilibrium point. We call that "instability". We got used to it but it doesn't mean it's the way to go. We're acting like spoiled kids discovering that no, you can't have it all, all the time, for free.

harimau777 7y ago

I can see a couple of potential reasons (at least for America): - We have built our society around the assumption of mobility so it could be difficult to just switch overnight. - Remote work doesn't work for many people and/or many situations. - Opportunities are not evenly distributed across the country. - Tolerance of alternative lifestyles is not evenly distributed. - Access to hobbies, cultural institutions, etc. is not evenly distributed.