Arthur Cordell wrote,
>Technology is also labour empowering or enhancing. McCluhan said it expands
>our reach. Viz., right now I am posting this message to a computer in
>Waterloo, Ontario that is forwarding to about 500 or so other computers
>around the world.
>This is what helps to make it a 'transformative technology.'
This is one aspect of the "expanding needs" argument. Technology saves
labour but also creates the possibility of creating and satisfying new
needs. Because hypertext enables me to embed links to animations in my text,
I can now spend hundreds of more hours writing articles and illustrating
them with cartoons. Of course there has to be effective demand for those
animations or else I'm just playing around.
How many of those 500 computers stay subscribed to futurework if it comes
with an explicit price tag? And who pays whom? Do the lurkers pay the
posters for the service or vice versa? The phrase 'transformative
technology' suggests that the 'goods & services' produced by the technology
don't fit the traditional definitions of economic value. How we can generate
traditional jobs and incomes from transformative goods and services is a
moot question. It's like asking how we can build a log cabin out of glass
and steel.
Regards,
Tom Walker
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