Gregory's Server@detritus Capitalism has definitely brought the problem to us, but I don't think we can escape responsibility entirely because we don't *have* to insist on online or technological solutions in situations where they are not required.
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@CiaraNi I guess you did specify “online” in your original post. So I guess I’m off on a tangent, but it seemed important to note that the process is not unique to the Internet or our particular moment. @CiaraNi the other dynamic at play that makes it definitely related to capitalism is that a lot of the examples mentioned are about workers who are overworked and the product of downsizing. They just don’t have the resources or the motivation to do anything but press the button on the gizmo, or say “sorry we can’t do that”. if the capitalists paid more to for people with higher morale and better problem-solving skills, then we’d have places that weren’t crippled when the computer goes down. @detritus Manufacturing desire and technological addiction for profit is absolutely a problem. We can still use our heads, though. I don't know anyone who's demanding, for example, that they get to spend extra minutes scanning a code just to see the names of the run-of-the-mill sandwiches they can choose between in the café they ran into in a hurry to grab a sandwich on their lunchbreak. The café could have a QR-code *and* a takes-seconds-to-read menu on the wall. |
@CiaraNi the insistence isn’t new though. Since at least as far back as the industrial revolution people have been wanting technological stuff that they don’t need. And that desire has often been manufactured by capitalists in order to sell more stuff. Business to consumer or business to business. It’s often not an original thought on the part of the consumer/client, it’s a “oh hey, that commercial (or consultant or vendor) told me I’m supposed to want that gizmo”. Whether it’s a railroad track to my town, or some stupid customer service app.
@CiaraNi the insistence isn’t new though. Since at least as far back as the industrial revolution people have been wanting technological stuff that they don’t need. And that desire has often been manufactured by capitalists in order to sell more stuff. Business to consumer or business to business. It’s often not an original thought on the part of the consumer/client, it’s a “oh hey, that commercial (or consultant or vendor) told me I’m supposed to want that gizmo”. Whether it’s a railroad track to...