Mx. Aria StewartJul 29, 2023

https://mastodon.online/@parismarx/110795127867511271

People expect "coming for our jobs" to look like our work being automated directly.

It doesn't.

It looks like the very kind of job no longer paying the bills because it's been devalued, sidelined, or the economics of something nearby changed a ton.

To automate something you _change the world to make it automatable_.

Paris Marx (@[email protected])

robots can’t even make pizza properly and the tech bros want us to believe they’re coming for our jobs, lol https://www.outkick.com/robot-pizza-start-up-shuts-down-because-they-couldnt-keep-cheese-from-sliding-off/

Mastodon
Show threadMx. Aria StewartJul 29, 2023

You don't make a carrot-cutting machine that can handle all the random shapes carrots come in. You make a variety of carrots that grows straight, you make a soil mix that's mostly sand, and you plant using extremely regular spacing and density.

Then the problem becomes how to cut the now pretty uniform carrots and reject the "bad" ones.

Same goes for any automation: you don't make a computer "do art", you devalue the concept of art itself, you muck up the relationships between artists and everyone else. You screw up licensing and the concept of credit for work. Then, you can have computer generated imagery for a low cost API token.

Show threadMx. Aria Stewart

You don't automate a tailor and seamstress's work, measuring a person and crafting a garment just for them: you invent stretchy fabrics, "good enough" fits that aren't really but you drop the price enough that people wear them anyway, and the entire clothing industry shifts to automated (and devalued human labor) cheap clothing.

It's not that there's no humans involved, it's that the creativity and relationships have been replaced with devalued, commoditized labor. (not unskilled! Just commoditized so that workers can be paid less by being more replaceable.)

Jul 29, 2023 at 3:36amWeb
Show threadMx. Aria StewartJul 29, 2023

There's always a hook, always a catch: cheaper clothing. But it fits poorly and wears out sooner.

Uniform carrots, and baby carrots as easy snacking. But no variety of flavors, no terroir, you can't store them as long, the baby ones get slimy in a hurry.

Anyone can "make art" by typing words. But no interaction with an artist, nobody helping make sense of the world. Thirteen fingered hands. No credit given for work. Existing biases amplified. Stereotypes enlarged.

Show threadMx. Aria StewartJul 29, 2023

Not to say there's not upsides: those hooks are powerful! But the catch is real. It's not always worth it.

Monoculture crops. Sterile, "legible" forests, predictably making timber, but that don't host the ecosystems of real forests. Throw-away clothing that doesn't fit well. Bicycle wheels that are distinctly less durable than they could be. Streets clogged by circling ride shares. Flat green lawns, pollinators dying. These are all symptoms of the same processes.

Show thread0xC0DEC0DE07EAJul 29, 2023
@aredridel mass-produced machined things really were a good thing to mechanize/automate and it’s like society never recovered.