Jim Dator wrote:
> Many thanks, Tom. No need to send it now. And thanks for the other
> information, too.
>
> What in your opinion (and I ask others on the list, too) were the main
> reasons, or forces, which prevented the logic of automation moving towards
> a shorter work week and eventually the end of work from playing out--or
> even being considered seriously now?
>
I will try to answer from a Norwegian point of view. If you have seen
this contry you will have seen that here are lots of work to do. Only
between two and three percents of the country are arable, most is
wilderness and mountains, and people love to build! And here are lots
of places where something can be built.
That is why I am sure we in few years will have lots of windmills
here. In one of the neighbouring comunities here the locals had the
agreement with the utility that the locals put up streetlights and
paid them and the connection to the grid, and the utility gave them
the electricity for free. The locals used to meet and make
arrangements to rise money and dicussed where to put up the next
streetlight, and did the work themselves, and they really liked it!
When there were streetlights everywhere were people used to go, then
they decided to put up streetlights in the mountains and places where
people seldom goes. But then the utilty said: we are not
paying that electricity. And they came to their mind and found
something better to do. They will really love to put up windmills!!
There will be shorter workweeks in Norway for people who have
children and for old people I guess.
Tor Forde
