This is the problem anti-work was meant to address: forcing companies to replace human labor with machines and convert long hours of work into free time for all of us. But we have fallen down on the job.
Now the capitalists are trying to turn their so-called labor shortage into a new reason to add to already abysmally high permanent unemployment created by the pandemic, using the excuse that they cannot find workers to fill jobs.
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There’s a more fundamental problem here. Let’s say things really could be automated, who will be buying them?
Capitalist economy relies on consumerism, and consumers are primarily wage workers. When these workers are eliminated then there’s nobody left to consume the goods.
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I completely agree that there is no problem with automation, and the problem is squarely with capitalism. In fact, the fact that automation is feared shows just how perverse this system is. In a sane society, we would celebrate the fact that we can reduce necessary work, and give people free time to spend the way that they want.
It’s also worth noting that this problem regularly occurs already without any need for automation. Companies want to reduce their operating costs leading to wages being constantly eroded. People spending increasingly larger portions of their income on necessities leads to drop in consumption resulting in a crisis of overproduction. Such crashes happen pretty regularly, with the latest one still unfolding.
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Of course, there tend to be many factors involved in practice. Another interesting aspect is that top capitalists tend to be the winner during each crash. Any people and companies that need recurring income to operate end up becoming insolvent, and this allows those with real capital to buy them up on the cheap. Every economic crash is basically a Black Friday for billionaires. And sure enough we’ve seen huge wealth transfers to the top occur during past three crashes. Wealth is increasingly being concentrated at the top and it’s leading to the whole system becoming increasingly unstable.
There is no historical evidence that automation has ever led to long term structural unemployment, so at most this is a short term issue.
How do you propose we start to change that in this community of antiworkers.
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So, if you are not antiwork, why are you here? There are a lot of place you people who worship “meaningful” slavery can go. Instead, you decide to bring your filth in this community which clearly states its ANTI-work?
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I sorry. There is no room for people who want to be their own slavemaster or for people who want “meaningful” slavery and me. If there is room for people like you here, then there is no room for me. If I was satisfied with people who want an understanding and kind slavemaster, there is a group on Reddit with 1.3 million members that entertains that idea.
I don’t and never will. Tell me that this group is like that one and I will leave. No problem.
When these workers are eliminated then there’s nobody left to consume the goods.
I’m pretty sure that could be automated.
In a way that has been as a lot of goods go from the factory directly to the landfill skipping the customer. Huge amounts of new products end up being destroyed in order to artificially inflate market prices.
