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There is a nugget of useful discussion in there, in that corporations aren't as necessary as they used to be. Better communication technology lowers coordinatio
by cwp 15y ago
There is a nugget of useful discussion in there, in that corporations aren't as necessary as they used to be. Better communication technology lowers coordination costs and we don't need big organization and bureaucracy to get big things done anymore.
But the whole "technology is destroying jobs" meme is just horseshit. What's destroying jobs in the US is lack of demand. Other counties (no, not all of them, but many) are doing just fine, thank you, despite technology.
I wonder if this kind of thing is a result of the high and accelerating pace of technological change we're experiencing. We expect change to be so fast that we don't even try to predict the future based on the past and present, we just throw our hands up and declare everything to be a fundamental paradigm shift, rather than a cyclical or temporary phenomenon.
- jcromartie 15y agoYou're right: Technology doesn't kill jobs. It kills demand. Who wants to send paper mail, or a landline phone, or to take out traditional classified ads? The alternatives are too appealing and the demand for the old versions is never coming back.
- cwp 15y agoUgh. No. The financial crisis killed demand.
- jcromartie 15y agoThe financial crisis did not make people buy mobile phones instead of landlines, Hulu and Netflix instead of cable TV, or Craigslist instead of local newspaper ads, or ebooks instead of paper books. It might have accelerated the shift, because the new technology was cheaper, but people naturally gravitate to the better product. These technologies split, reorganized, transferred, concentrated or decentralized demand. Call it what you will, but people want the new stuff over the old stuff. And if they want it, they'll buy it.
- suivix 15y agoWhy did the horse and buggy go away? Lack of demand, I'd say.
- jcarden 15y agoTechnology kills demand for a particular procedure or function, this dampens aggregate demand which in turn eliminates the need for the function or procedure provider in the form of a job