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To me the difference seems to come in with “mass industrialization” or de-personalization. I’m growing my own backyard vegetables? Challenging but rewarding. I
by whynotminot 3y ago
To me the difference seems to come in with “mass industrialization” or de-personalization.
I’m growing my own backyard vegetables? Challenging but rewarding. I’m part of massive factory farming? Less enthused.
I think this can be generalized across a lot of industries, and I think it boils down to our human need to feel like we’re more than just a small cog.
- graphe 3y agoWhy isn't optimizing for factory farming not fun? You might mean the loss of autonomy.
- xyzzy123 3y agoI think Marxists call it "alienation of labour", quite a lot is written about this. Loss of autonomy is definitely a factor, but also people can get disconnected from the output leading to a loss of meaning in the actual work. At industrial scales vegetables are an intermediate step in a production / distribution chain where the desired output is actually dollars. If dumping or mulching them results in more dollars, so be it. If it tastes worse but transports better and you get more dollars, worse tasting it is. Etc etc. You could say that the optimisation process itself results in a loss of autonomy since market structure, competition and regulation dictate what you have to do to a large extent. "Don't hate the player, hate the game...". I think knowledge work can go the same way.
- graphe 3y agoTheory of alienation in Marxism usually refers to the idea that social hierarchies exist because they're tied to your work. Optimization isn't strictly just production based, it can be carbon capture. Then you get to Marx's other theory: the commodity fetishiation. It's not all doom, you can fetishize some crops by making them organic, carbon negative, low water, etc. All of knowledge work is very alienating.