Therein is the big issue IMO

Post #41,520 by drewk 6/7/02 9:38:28 AM Reply	Therein is the big issue IMO As a planet - we have no plan for what to do with multitudes of persons following their own growth curve -- who won't understand the above shorthand. These need to have valid work for a sane existence. I don't view the progression I outlined as the steps of turning humans into cogs in the machine, but to completely removing humans from the machine. If something can be automated, do you really want to do it over and over again? Do you want to work on an assembly line? Problem is, there are probably more people in the world who would be satisfied with that than not. What do they do for a living once we've replaced them with faster, more-consistent machines? A great quote I heard but can't locate, went something like this: We engage in warfare, so that our sons can engage in politics and construction, so that their sons can engage in music and art. Sounds great, but the insight Aldous Huxley had is that the weak link in building a Utopia isn't eliminating the things people don't want to do, it's finding something for people to make a living at. === Microsoft offers them the one thing most business people will pay any price for - the ability to say "we had no choice - everyone's doing it that way." -- [link\|http://z.iwethey.org/forums/render/content/show?contentid=38978\|Andrew Grygus]
Post #41,600 by Ashton 6/7/02 6:47:20 PM Reply	Yes - it seems to be that last.. Which is confounding even the appearance of anything like "planning-for". Hell, I'll admit that - in some moods, an hour or two of utterly repetitive simple tasks can be positively salubrious! Actually 'thinking to some huge Purpose' surely is the hardest work homo-sap ever (a few of them) manages to do. Most of us are aliens to such prowess anyway.. So yes, nice one! Replacing all the regular tasks with HALinux-XP, can only exacerbate the problem of ~8 billions here, or as LBJ said.. Don't spit in the soup Everybody's got to eat Ashton Properly translated, I think Will S. would have liked some of LBJ's homilies :-\ufffd
Post #41,689 by dmarker2 6/8/02 11:21:29 PM Reply	Re: Ashton, have created a new thread in open ... Have pre loaded it with enough fuel for a big blast :-) It should be a good opportunity to question the ethics and directions of the changes that XML & Web Services are expected to bring. Cheers - Doug
Post #41,770 by Ashton 6/9/02 8:06:15 PM Reply	Beyond call of duty :-) Mine should have been tagged OT No quibbles with your presentation of what seems a trend which has reached critical (thinking) mass. Apologies for interrupting a promising thread in its correct forum. I just tend to think in the direction that - such new models as putatively devaluate the (need for) individual knowledge of workers: is that Stimulus which ever shall evoke Response - For the truly-PHB, that Response is as inevitable as ... the next ad. People = Costs :: Cut Both. Trend is looking awful for that vast majority (in any field) who are merely 'average' - since already we read here signs of the commoditization. Always Room at the Top of course, and we each believe we are Top, yet -- (So it still sounds as if these developments will be ~= worsening the overall IT/Business (and especially Bizness!) "relationship". :( Regards, Ashton
Post #41,897 by mmoffitt 6/11/02 12:08:55 AM Reply	Indeed. such new models as putatively devaluate the (need for) individual knowledge of workers:... When my daughters ask me what I miss most about "the good old days" when I was young, I always say, "In those days, we had artisans. Unfortunately, I have lived long enough to see their demise."
Post #41,912 by Ashton 6/11/02 4:09:02 AM Reply	Tip of iceberg? First - they are still around - these days it seems: making superb one-offs (of lots of things) for the Yuppie class. (I guess that overlaps upper-Middle and Elite?). As with $200 dinners by $1M chefs. But overall, of course there are fewer and fewer. I notice this particularly re home work (not homework!). Many can sort-of install electrical fixtures for ex., but have none of the basic comprehension of Ohm's law, a bit of AC and DC principles. Some little thing is amiss: they can't even R&R sometimes. Surely couldn't create a "switch diagram" to make some small alteration. [These not needed, allowed in my house BTW] 'Specialization' - most obvious in the MD Trade, but becoming apparent more and more as businesses morph into 'bizness' - means that fewer have anything like a liberal education and act accordingly dull -while pretending 'chipper'? Allopathic MDs, with rare exception - have no idea about the many other approaches to 'health' worldwide, and often do not grok what it means to boast, "We Treat Symptoms!" Maybe a similar 'allopathy' occurs with 'consultant specialists' in bizness: they are being called in because: none of the present local Elite plans to stay very long, just want a parachute - and know pretty little about the intricacies of that overall business! (How Else explain: M$ hegemony ??) Anyway.. I don't see how 'we' can overcome the lead-time problem for training competent people - without some rilly Bad times coming. Those BTW will be the times when your 'maturity' shall take on a new cachet: "hey This guy grew up when they were still really Teaching stuff! Heh - he can even spel. And multiply without a calculator!!" Ashton

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