3 ms·
Omon Ra [1] is probably the most important book I've ever read. The wikipedia page suggested to me that it would be a surreal alternate history comedy about th
by Verdex 3y ago
Omon Ra [1] is probably the most important book I've ever read. The wikipedia page suggested to me that it would be a surreal alternate history comedy about the Russian space program. There was however no comedy ... or at least nothing that was comedic to me.
The point, at least as I interpreted it, was that society is very good at building callous machines that throw away human lives for no reason and then the same society turns and pats itself on the back for the incredible virtue it has in allowing those people to "heroically" destroy themselves.
These countertops might not even outlive the people they're killing at a young age. In the past 15 years, I've talked to people who have gone from needing granite counter tops, to quartz, to the next trendy fashion. If a countertop killed me, then I would hope that it would last a century, but the truth is that it might not last a decade simply due to being unfashionable. And somehow I doubt its replacement is going to be any safer to cut.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omon_Ra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omon_Ra
- mike_ivanov 3y agoOf my favourite books. Thank you for the reminder to read it again :-) To those who didn't read it - it is a rather short novel, uncannily funny, scary, and most of all - revealing of how human societies actually work. This is one of the earlier Pelevin's works, so the style is still illustrious. Some jokes might not be immediately transparent as they are contextualized in the late USSR. Correction: it is scary in the cthonic/transcendent sense, not that it is spooky (it's not at all).
- xwdv 3y agoI see the same thing happen even in software. A developer here died 2 years ago, now 2 years later his contributions to the code base have finally been completely erased and replaced.
- k0k0 3y agoHis code contributions led to his demise? If not, I think you missed the point.
- xwdv 3y agoKilled in a rollover car accident while driving to the office.
- leoqa 3y agoYes but he didn’t die by typing in his keyboard. Our impact is transient, no one is irreplaceable.
- brianwawok 3y agoHey causation is very hard to prove…
- Timshel 3y agoI don't know to me the main issue is that proper protection measure which exists are just either not properly implemented or enforced. No matter if the countertop last forever you still died just for someone greed or utter apathy and negligence ...
- IngvarLynn 3y agoDouble bollocks. First, you're striping agency from those workers blaming abstract society instead. There is no such thing as "collective guilt". Those particular workers are free to leave such an unsafe industry at any moment, probably even more free than, say, smokers who choose death from respiratory complications. I have exactly zero empathy for either. True that sometimes workers are not exactly free to leave the job and coerced into insane working conditions, e.g. the curse of russian monotowns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwzP-zr0S0c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwzP-zr0S0c . That is definitely not the case for california though. Second, your interpretation of the book is not right. Works of Pelevin, just as many other great writers, are not exactly fiction, but a compilation of a real life contemporary trends distorted by weird observation angle and grotesque style. The core theme of Omon Ra is very basic: government brainwashes people to be literal disposable cogs. AFAIR the book does not reference "society" in any way. I've read the book over 20 years ago though. One great thing about Pelevin is that he definitely had access to people of highest power at some point (early 00's at least) and translated their completely crazy worldviews into his books.
- loa_in_ 3y agoBut who is going to make the dangers known to potential and currently employed workers? Companies can sieve through people until they find someone desperate enough or oblivious to the danger and they could not even be aware they're throwing their lives away.
- failuser 3y agoThe choice of often being homeless or that. And then you’ll berate them for being lazy.
- IngvarLynn 3y agoThere is definitely an abundance of low-skill jobs... so far. So the choice is between different shops, not about homelesness.