Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!genrad!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!houxm!ihnp4!we13!otuxa!tty3b!mjk From: mjk@tty3b.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: Robots and Employment Message-ID: <142@tty3b.UUCP> Date: Fri, 24-Jun-83 18:32:41 EDT Article-I.D.: tty3b.142 Posted: Fri Jun 24 18:32:41 1983 Date-Received: Tue, 28-Jun-83 10:16:25 EDT Lines: 33 The major question regarding industrial technology seems to me to be "Who controls it?" The Marxist question "Cui Bono?" (``Who gets the goods?'') seems to very frequently illuminate seemingly innocent or unrelated events. And if anyone doubts that it is the captains of industry, the managers, who call the shots, I'd suggest they aren't living in the same nation I am. Workers, with very rare exceptions, have no input at all. They just get pink slips one day. Of course, the promises are that there will be more jobs -- some day. And that there will be retraining programs -- some day. But profits increase -- today. Whose profits? Well, those who decided when, where and how to install the technology. Cui Bono? I think that some industrial and office technology can be good. Many industrial jobs are dehumanizing and unrewarding. But let's not be fooled by all the rhetoric. No one is installing office or factory automation to relieve the workers from their dehumanizing jobs. And this "trust this market" is just so much hocus-pocus: tell the 10 million people unemployed today that the market will solve their problems someday and they'll tell you they've got rent to pay tomorrow and groceries to buy the day after that. And I think that all the subscribers to this newsgroup are informed enough to know that the idea that all the steel workers are going to be programming computers is just so much BS. It's cruel to see them go through the training programs and then find, once again, no jobs waiting. There are over 200,000 automobile workers unemployed. Does anyone think there are 200,000 computer programming jobs waiting for them? When the benefits of technology are used to truly improve job quality and the priority is full employment, then I'll believe in robotics. Until then, I just keep asking, "Cui Bono?" Mike Kelly tty3b!mjk