JP"class traitor technologies" is a useful concept to install into your worldview: anything that invites you to think of yourself as a little dauphin, a temporary aristocrat reclining on a chaise of screaming human bones, languorous finger directing some new marvel of labor, anything that discourages you from thinking of that labor as the product of other humans' hands and minds, product of a real place with soil and air and human community. technology to invisibilize & obliterate all that.
when people use the word "convenience" in a consumer tech context that is usually what's hiding behind it. it's convenient because it transverses class struggle.
"what about that computer you're typing this on? checkmate!!"
https://mastodon.social/@jplebreton/116269375698477407 🫩
https://mastodon.social/@jplebreton/116269375698477407 🫩
G. Wozniak@jplebreton There is always a moment where a person presents themselves in such conversations where you can gauge pretty accurately how much they value this convenience. It's when they start to congratulate themselves on how well they have done for themselves because they "pulled themselves up by their bootstraps" and, especially, how much they deserve the convenience they have.
James Endres Howell@jplebreton most accurate description of academia I've ever read
David JONES@jplebreton oh, like money.
Die Welt ist@jplebreton Do you have examples? /gen
@dieweltist gig delivery/transit services are among the most vivid examples
Richard Cantzler@jplebreton I dunno, it's pretty relative.
Then: Water carriers
Now: Indoor plumbing. Repaired by plumbers
Then: Chimney Sweeps
Now: Central HVAC. Repaired by HVAC technicians
Then: Lamplighters
Now: Electric lighting. Repaired by electrician
Then: Coachmen
Recently: Taxi drivers
Now: Uber/Lyft drivers
Future: autonomous cab. Repaired by gigtricians
Then: Tabulating clerks
Recently: Computers (people)
Now: Computers. Repaired by smart family members or Geek Squad
Then: Bookkeepers
Recently: CPAs
Now: QuickBooks
Civilization advances. We UpSkill. Let's acknowledge that what we consider menial tasks (and perceive as traitor to a class) shifts drastically over time, and as human beings we'd really love to spend a majority of time enjoying life and the pursuit of happiness, not collecting water, lighting lamps, steering horses, balancing the books by hand, writing boilerplate code, etc.
There's a ton of bad intent out there, but it's not all bad out there.
@cantzler it sounds like you have thought at least a little about labor and where it comes from, which is good!
what you must not accept is what we currently call the tech industry's ongoing argument that every new thing they put before you is part of a natural inevitable process whereby human burdens are eased, labor relations become more equitable, and less human life is wasted.
we would be living in a dramatically different world if that were actually true.
what you must not accept is what we currently call the tech industry's ongoing argument that every new thing they put before you is part of a natural inevitable process whereby human burdens are eased, labor relations become more equitable, and less human life is wasted.
we would be living in a dramatically different world if that were actually true.
@cantzler sometimes a new product is simply asbestos. sometimes a new form of labor creates more precarity than it eliminates. it is morally imperative you look beyond your own comfort.
@jplebreton I agree we have to look deep and consider the implications. DDT has taught us this. Plastic will teach us this.
eclexicIn a book I read a while back, called "The Abundance Of Less" a woman who was interviewed for the book had a take on the shinkansen. Heavily paraphrased.
It use to be the trip from Osaka to Tokyo would take a few weeks. You would go once in a while, because you had a few weeks. Today, the trip from Osaka to Tokyo can be done in an afternoon, but you don't have the afternoon.
In my opinion, much work hasn't been properly automated, it's been outsourced to the clients.
Neil Kandalgaonkar@jplebreton this is literally all technology that is also a product. but i don’t disagree.