I don't regret not being able to do grunt work. I do grunt work. I also do scholarship that is far out ahead of 99% of what comes out of the academy but I don't get paid. I have to pay my rent and buy food. I can tell you exactly what is wrong here and how to fix it. That an $1.95 will buy me a cup of coffee.
On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 7:22 PM, Ray Harrell <[email protected]> wrote: > Classical Greece changed the world in a little over 100 years because they > had slaves who did the grunt work and they could do real work on the human > mind. We have slave machines and lament not being able to do grunt work. > What is wrong here? What is it about the modern age that so demeans the > body and human potential? Americans, and Canadians, can barely smell much > less taste. Two out of seven sensual worlds are basically lost to the > whole continent. The internal Kinesthetic world is so strange to them that > they think they are depressed when they have a stomachache. They love to > “watch” dance, commit serious aural forms to the taste of the upper 1% and > barely ever touch each other. But they do math. “Objective” science > means visual. Aural forms or “orders” in time are frightening, especially > when some dictator uses them on unsophisticated folks and they lose their > visual objectivity. Oh yes and to these folks everything IS sex. The > whole sensorium is just one big wish for an orgy unrequited. Is it any > wonder that they just sit and grunt for pay? **** > > ** ** > > REH **** > > ** ** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Arthur Cordell > *Sent:* Thursday, October 27, 2011 8:34 PM > > *To:* [email protected]; 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME > DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' > *Subject:* Re: [Futurework] [Ottawadissenters] More Jobs Predicted for > Machines, Not People**** > > ** ** > > Well said and worth repeating.**** > > ** ** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Ed Weick > *Sent:* Thursday, October 27, 2011 3:38 PM > *To:* [email protected]; 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME > DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' > *Subject:* Re: [Ottawadissenters] More Jobs Predicted for Machines, Not > People**** > > ** ** > > > > **** > > Something I posted a couple of weeks ago may warrant repeating:**** > > **** > > Ah yes, the milkman or milklady. When I was a kid in Calgary or wherever I > used to hear the milkman's (or woman's) horse come clop-clopping down the > street early in the morning, then the clank of empty milk bottles being > replaced by full ones. Then, as a young adult, I remember not having enough > money to pay the parking attendant. He was a good guy so he let me go. > Then as a civil servant, I remember giving one of the stenos in the typing > pool hell because when I dictated Super Constellation (the name of an > airliner in case you don't remember), she typed Stupor Constipation! And > one of the messengers, the guys who ran the mail around, lost one of the > memos that was supposed to go to the Deputy Minister and bad things > happened. All those people doing all those jobs! Wonder where they are > now? Maybe some of them have joined the sit-in on Wall Street in the US or > on Bay Street here in Canada. Maybe many of them -- the younger ones -- are > part of the huge crowds that have gathered in our colleges and > universities because they have nothing better to do. **** > > **** > > The milk is no longer delivered, the guys in the parking lots have become > machines, the stenos and messengers have become computers, and our colleges > and universities have become places to store young people who have little to > do anymore.**** > > **** > > I think I'll aim my horse westward and ride away.**** > > **** > > Ed**** > > **** > > **** > > ----- Original Message ----- **** > > *From:* Arthur Cordell <[email protected]> **** > > *To:* [email protected] ; 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME > DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION' <[email protected]> **** > > *Sent:* Thursday, October 27, 2011 9:07 AM**** > > *Subject:* [Ottawadissenters] More Jobs Predicted for Machines, Not People > **** > > ** ** > > **** > > October 23, 2011 NY Times**** > More Jobs Predicted for Machines, Not People****By STEVE > LOHR<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/steve_lohr/index.html?inline=nyt-per> > **** > > *A faltering economy explains much of the job shortage in America, but > advancing technology has sharply magnified the effect, more so than is > generally understood, according to two researchers at the Massachusetts > Institute of Technology*. **** > > The automation of more and more work once done by humans is the central > theme of “Race Against the > Machine,”<http://www.amazon.com/Race-Against-Machine-Accelerating-ebook/dp/B005WTR4ZI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1319384892&sr=8-2>an > e-book to be published on Monday. > **** > > “Many workers, in short, are losing the race against the machine,” the > authors write. **** > > Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist and director of the M.I.T. Center for > Digital Business, and Andrew P. McAfee, associate director and principal > research scientist at the center, are two of the nation’s leading experts on > technology and productivity. The tone of alarm in their book is a departure > for the pair, whose previous research has focused mainly on the benefits of > advancing technology. **** > > Indeed, they were originally going to write a book titled, “The Digital > Frontier,” about the “cornucopia of innovation that is going on,” Mr. McAfee > said. Yet as the employment picture failed to brighten in the last two > years, the two changed course to examine technology’s role in the jobless > recovery. **** > > The authors are not the only ones recently to point to the job fallout from > technology. In the current issue of the McKinsey Quarterly, W. Brian Arthur, > an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute, warns that *technology is > quickly taking over service jobs, following the waves of automation of farm > and factory work. “This last repository of jobs is shrinking — fewer of us > in the future may have white-collar business process jobs — and we have a > problem,” Mr. Arthur writes. ***** > > The M.I.T. authors’ claim that automation is accelerating is not shared by > some economists. Prominent among them are Robert J. Gordon of Northwestern > and Tyler Cowen of George Mason University, who contend that productivity > improvement owing to technological innovation rose from 1995 to 2004, but > has trailed off since. Mr. Cowen emphasized that point in an e-book, “The > Great > Stagnation,”<http://www.amazon.com/Great-Stagnation-Low-Hanging-Eventually-ebook/dp/B004H0M8QS>published > this year. > **** > > Technology has always displaced some work and jobs. Over the years, many > experts have warned — mistakenly — that machines were gaining the upper > hand. In 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes warned of a “new disease” > that he termed “technological unemployment,” the inability of the economy to > create new jobs faster than jobs were lost to automation. **** > > But Mr. Brynjolfsson and Mr. McAfee argue that the pace of automation has > picked up in recent years because of a combination of technologies including > robotics, numerically controlled machines, computerized inventory control, > voice recognition and online commerce. **** > > *Faster, cheaper computers and increasingly clever software, the authors > say, are giving machines capabilities that were once thought to be > distinctively human, like understanding speech, translating from one > language to another and recognizing patterns. So automation is rapidly > moving beyond factories to jobs in call centers, marketing and sales — parts > of the services sector, which provides most jobs in the economy. ***** > > During the last recession, the authors write, one in 12 people in sales > lost their jobs, for example. And the downturn prompted many businesses to > look harder at substituting technology for people, if possible. Since the > end of the recession in June 2009, they note, corporate spending on > equipment and software has increased by 26 percent, while payrolls have been > flat. **** > > Corporations are doing fine. The companies in the Standard & Poor’s > 500-stock index are expected to report record profits this year, a total > $927 billion, estimates FactSet Research. And the authors point out that > corporate profit as a share of the economy is at a 50-year high. **** > > *Productivity growth in the last decade, at more than 2.5 percent, they > observe, is higher than the 1970s, 1980s and even edges out the 1990s. Still > the economy, they write, did not add to its total job count, the first time > that has happened over a decade since the Depression*. **** > > The skills of machines, the authors write, will only improve. In 2004, two > leading economists, Frank Levy and Richard J. Murnane, published “The New > Division of > Labor,”<http://www.amazon.com/New-Division-Labor-Computers-Creating/dp/0691124027/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319409677&sr=1-1-fkmr0>which > analyzed the capabilities of computers and human workers. Truck > driving was cited as an example of the kind of work computers could not > handle, recognizing and reacting to moving objects in real time. **** > > But last fall, Google announced that its robot-driven cars had logged > thousands of miles on American > roads<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/science/10google.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1319387802-nu3SGR8HFvctMORJfQXbtg>with > only an occasional assist from human back-seat drivers. The Google > cars, Mr. Brynjolfsson said, are but one sign of the times. **** > > As others have, he pointed to I.B.M.’s “Jeopardy”-playing computer, Watson, > which in February beat a pair of human “Jeopardy” > champions<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/science/17jeopardy-watson.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Computer%20Wins%20On%20%27Jeopardy%21%27:%20Trivial,%20It%27s%20Not%20&st=cse>; > and Apple’s new personal assistant software, Siri, which responds to voice > commands<http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/will-siri-bring-back-the-iphones-wow-factor/>. > **** > > “This technology can do things now that only a few years ago were thought > to be beyond the reach of computers,” Mr. Brynjolfsson said. **** > > Yet computers, the authors say, tend to be narrow and literal-minded, good > at assigned tasks but at a loss when a solution requires intuition and > creativity — human traits. A partnership, they assert, is the path to job > creation in the future. **** > > “In medicine, law, finance, retailing, manufacturing and even scientific > discovery,” they write, “the key to winning the race is not to compete > *against > *machines but to compete *with *machines.” **** > > > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/technology/economists-see-more-jobs-for-machines-not-people.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26 > **** > > > > **** > > __._,_.___**** > > **** > > Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional > Change settings via the > Web<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ottawadissenters/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJnMWw1dXF0BF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzE1MjA5MDU5BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA4MzUxMgRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNzdG5ncwRzdGltZQMxMzE5NzQ0MzEw>(Yahoo! > ID required) > Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily > Digest<[email protected]?subject=Email%20Delivery:%20Digest>| > Switch > to Fully > Featured<[email protected]?subject=Change%20Delivery%20Format:%20Fully%20Featured> > Visit Your Group > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ottawadissenters;_ylc=X3oDMTJlM2I2czlwBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzE1MjA5MDU5BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA4MzUxMgRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNocGYEc3RpbWUDMTMxOTc0NDMxMA-->| > Yahoo! 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