The End of Work

So I began reading The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era by Jeremy Rafkin today. It was written over ten years ago I believe, so it is not exactly up to date, but it is interesting all the same. It basically explains the paradox of technology. On the one hand, technology is a good thing. It makes our lives easier and has lead to longer lifespans thanks to breakthroughs in medecine.

At the same time, it is dangerous. The same technology that makes life easier for the average guy, makes production easier for the corporation. That is, technology can do the jobs of most Americans today longer, 24/7 with no breaks, and more efficiently. This means that instead of having hundreds of manual laborers who are relatively expensive, especially in the United States, it is much more logical to replace them with machines.

Instantly, those people are unemployed. Theoretically, another sector of the economy should be able to absorb those workers, such as the manufacturing sector did when agriculture became more mechanized, and as the service sector did when the manufacturing sector became automated. However, there is no new sector of the economy to absorb these freshly unemployed. And where unemployment rears its ugly head, social disorder often follows. Anyways, it is uber interesting and I suggest it for reading!! Ciao bitches!