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1995, Jeremy Rifkin talked about the End of Work, saying we should plan for how to structure society as it was coming. He was ignored, and now we seem to be liv
by jerrya 15y ago
1995, Jeremy Rifkin talked about the End of Work, saying we should plan for how to structure society as it was coming. He was ignored, and now we seem to be living the results of not planning for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Work
The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era is a non-fiction book by American economist Jeremy Rifkin, published in 1995 by Putnam Publishing Group.[1]
In 1995, Rifkin contended that worldwide unemployment would increase as information technology eliminates tens of millions of jobs in the manufacturing, agricultural and service sectors. He traced the devastating impact of automation on blue-collar, retail and wholesale employees. While a small elite of corporate managers and knowledge workers reap the benefits of the high-tech world economy, the American middle class continues to shrink and the workplace becomes ever more stressful.
As the market economy and public sector decline, Rifkin predicted the growth of a third sector—voluntary and community-based service organizations—that will create new jobs with government support to rebuild decaying neighborhoods and provide social services. To finance this enterprise, he advocated scaling down the military budget, enacting a value added tax on nonessential goods and services and redirecting federal and state funds to provide a "social wage" in lieu of welfare payments to third-sector workers.[1]
- pmr_ 15y agoIt's shocking that only a minority of people in technology know about post-scarcity concepts. Un-employing others is our main goal and when we cannot sustain an income from supporting an application, technology has done exactly that to us. Support has either been crowd-sourced or enough able people are able to add enhancements themselves. We should be the ones that are most aware of these consequences and simply move on to new technologies and projects instead of artificially limiting our products.
- drivingmenuts 15y agoIt's not the technology workers that are getting hurt the worst by this change, though. It's all the other people in businesses affected by and attached to the tech industry, who don't have the flexibility to pivot quickly or at all. Moving on to new technologies just puts more people out of work with nothing to replace their old jobs. Additionally, technology is neutral regarding human nature. As we grow older, we are less comfortable with shifting around and there are attachments that make it more difficult. Sure, it's great to be rootless and fancy-free when you're in your 20s, but when you hit 40 or 50, you have to start thinking about how it's all going to end.
- pmr_ 15y agoSo should we just stop developing technology because all those jobs have to be preserved? You seem to take jobs as something that is inherent to the existence of the individual. The book recommended by the parent (and some others) question that position and explore alternatives and the transition from a society rooted in that belief and one that doesn't require the existence of jobs. Technology is not about putting a few people out of "work", but about freeing people from it altogether.
- tree_of_item 15y agoJobs are something inherent to the existence of individuals until we somehow trick the political class in to implementing basic income, which is absolutely not happening any time soon. All this talk of "post-scarcity" tomorrow ignores the fact that no jobs causes a lot problems for people today.
- mustpax 15y agoBertrand Russell wrote an essay to the same effect in 1935. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Praise_of_Idleness_and_Other_Essays http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Praise_of_Idleness_and_Other... The idea that we no longer need as much labor to sustain ourselves is nothing new. But it appears that we're completely willing to convert the surplus into improvements in quality of living. What we at one point might consider a creature comfort, we gradually elevate to the level of necessity. Cars, air conditioning, 2 day weekends. You name it.