If the West is serious about friendshoring, many more will need to carry out manual work — albeit aided by robots. And yes, that means university graduates.
Factory jobs aren’t inherently unfulfilling or degrading. There are bad jobs and good ones like any other field. Generally, factory jobs actually pay pretty well for the amount of education required.
Good point! I did mean to acknowledge this. I don’t mean to say factory work is necessarily unfulfilling by nature. We should be looking to automate all unfulfilling jobs away where we can, factory or otherwise.
I’d guess factory work is often more fulfilling than the range of white collar bullshit jobs (“B” ark type stuff 😜) where there’s no sense of really doing anything of value. I suspect though a lot of the unfulfilling white collar bullshit work does require automation replace, but we can just stop making people do pretend work just to be able to live! (I say this confident of my ticket on the “B” ark myself!)
I would say however, how well they’re paid isn’t the whole picture thought. If there are nasty jobs that need doing, we should at least make sure they pay well, but better that all have fulfilling and well paid jobs, rather than sacrificial one for the other. Utopian/idealistic I know, but if I’m going to be dreaming might as well dream big! 😁
I don’t know my Marx, but doesn’t he have a thing about factory work being by it’s nature dehumanising due to its focus on being just one tiny part of making something, rather than the craftsman it replaced. I think there’s something to be said for that, and where we can accepting that while a production line may be strictly more efficient than craftsman, that efficiency isn’t everything all the time. (Again using factory analogy here but the same comparison can be made of various “white collar” jobs too).
Oh I should also say, that I can imagine the full automation of some jobs being bad for similar reasons, even if it might seem like a win. If there is joy to be found in, for example, the work of a making furniture by hand, then I can see it being a negative to fully automate that job away, even if we can ensure every furniture maker isn’t affected financially by the loss of the jobs. There’s something of value in the feeling of performing ones craft in the equitable service of someone else, and if we have machines making the furniture the same, then we risk robbing people of that.
No simple answers I guess! Balance in everything, everything in balance and all that.
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Factory jobs aren’t inherently unfulfilling or degrading. There are bad jobs and good ones like any other field. Generally, factory jobs actually pay pretty well for the amount of education required.
Good point! I did mean to acknowledge this. I don’t mean to say factory work is necessarily unfulfilling by nature. We should be looking to automate all unfulfilling jobs away where we can, factory or otherwise. I’d guess factory work is often more fulfilling than the range of white collar bullshit jobs (“B” ark type stuff 😜) where there’s no sense of really doing anything of value. I suspect though a lot of the unfulfilling white collar bullshit work does require automation replace, but we can just stop making people do pretend work just to be able to live! (I say this confident of my ticket on the “B” ark myself!)
I would say however, how well they’re paid isn’t the whole picture thought. If there are nasty jobs that need doing, we should at least make sure they pay well, but better that all have fulfilling and well paid jobs, rather than sacrificial one for the other. Utopian/idealistic I know, but if I’m going to be dreaming might as well dream big! 😁
I don’t know my Marx, but doesn’t he have a thing about factory work being by it’s nature dehumanising due to its focus on being just one tiny part of making something, rather than the craftsman it replaced. I think there’s something to be said for that, and where we can accepting that while a production line may be strictly more efficient than craftsman, that efficiency isn’t everything all the time. (Again using factory analogy here but the same comparison can be made of various “white collar” jobs too).
Oh I should also say, that I can imagine the full automation of some jobs being bad for similar reasons, even if it might seem like a win. If there is joy to be found in, for example, the work of a making furniture by hand, then I can see it being a negative to fully automate that job away, even if we can ensure every furniture maker isn’t affected financially by the loss of the jobs. There’s something of value in the feeling of performing ones craft in the equitable service of someone else, and if we have machines making the furniture the same, then we risk robbing people of that.
No simple answers I guess! Balance in everything, everything in balance and all that.