Author Topic: Human's need not apply - very interesting video  (Read 2137 times)

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Offline usedbustickets

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Human's need not apply - very interesting video
« on: October 21, 2014, 16:27:54 PM »
Well my last topic on damp and leaks has not generated as much response as I expected.  So I am moving along the other end of the Practical - Intellectual continuum to a subject that I hope may raise some repsonses.

Please view this video
 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU</a>

The video presents the same sort of arguments that we faced in the eighties with the arrival of digital technology, only now the rate and type of change not only presents profound issues for us all in the world of work, but also in our role or perhaps non-role in the local, national and world economy.

In the eighties we proposed 'collective' solutions to the advance of the digital age which shared the benefits of new technology through policies like the shorter working week, earlier retirement, greater access to education and training, using and directing technology for the greater good, not just profit and benefit of the rich. As we now come towards the end of the digital age into this new technology age, many, if not all, of these ideas have been abandoned or even reversed.

The biggest issue I see is the absence amongst the young of any collective response to the threats they face, both now and in the future.  I have said before that I would not like to be young again, trying to get a good job, my own home and raise a family.  Until the young recognise that a collective response tothe issue of technology, in particular who owns and controls it, is required, and one in which they must play an active part.  I can only see it continuing to be a race to the bottom.  Where the race gets faster and the number of people (or victims) forced out of the race gets larger more quickly.



Offline Colwyn

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Re: Human's need not apply - very interesting video
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2014, 17:36:20 PM »
There is a famous, but no doubt apochryphal tale, about Henry Ford and an assembly line worker. Ford tells the worker that he will soon be redundant. Henry has bought some new super robots. They work faster than the worker, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and never go on strike. The worker says to Henry "Very good Mr Ford. And will they buy your motor cars?". What the fictional worker understood, and the fictional Henry Ford had forgotten, is that economics about supply and demand; about production and consumption. [This is always a good story t0 tell engineers - they tend to be obsessed about production and not to worried about consumption, marketing, sales, advertizing and all that "softy" stuff.]

The theoretical basis of the above story is, of course, best understood by using the analysis of Karl Marx. In brief, the circuit of capital in capitalist society fundamentally relies upon the production of value (e.g. in manufacturing). BUT that is only one moment in the circuit. The second moment is the realization of value  (e.g. selling the products made in phase one) and this is followed by the distribution of value (e.g. dividing this up in dividends and increased share prices). When this distribution is then re-invested the next circuit of capital begins and capital accumulation continues. All three moments are required for capital accumulation. In other words, capital is inescapably tied to labour; the former cannot grow without the latter.

The bad news is that, in a globalized world, there is no guarantee that US/EU capital is reliant on US/EU labour. Workers in the UK might be impoverished and workers elsewhere become the new important consumers. Nevertheless, capital has to find markets and that has to mean consumers who are able to buy the goods and services produced by corporations.

Capitalism is ever changing, so the delicate balances in the circuit of capital, and the relations between different elements of the circuit - production, retail and finance branches of capital - are repeatedly throwing advanced capitalism into crisis - e.g. 2007/08.

Edit: I realize that I have left out a crucial element in the analysis. Where does the value come from? For Marx, it is the result of human effort - labour - applied to natural or cultural materials. When the amount of value that is returned to labour is less than the value that is created we have surplus value which, under capitalism, is appropriated  by capital in a process of exploitation of value. This is why capital relies upon labour. [NOTE: many conventional, neo-classical economists reject the labour theory of value].
« Last Edit: October 21, 2014, 18:33:08 PM by Colwyn »

Offline johntaylor49

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Re: Human's need not apply - very interesting video
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2014, 10:58:35 AM »
I need to think about this one :

Offline suehugh

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Re: Human's need not apply - very interesting video
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2014, 11:01:12 AM »
Who is going to pull the plug out and stick it back in then, when  the programmes go into a never ending loop.

Offline johntaylor49

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Re: Human's need not apply - very interesting video
« Reply #4 on: November 07, 2014, 13:40:13 PM »
Still thinking  :)

Offline Colwyn

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Re: Human's need not apply - very interesting video
« Reply #5 on: November 07, 2014, 14:25:52 PM »

Offline KKOB

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Re: Human's need not apply - very interesting video
« Reply #6 on: November 07, 2014, 14:47:58 PM »
Yeah, yeah, that's all very well, but how much will an Efes cost in June ?

Offline Colwyn

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Re: Human's need not apply - very interesting video
« Reply #7 on: November 07, 2014, 16:21:21 PM »
More. Or less possibly, less.




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