Labour

Labour (labor) is both love and hate. Most depend on it to pay the bills. The rich need it to support a lifestyle. And many are still exploited for cheap labour. It is a fact of life. Manual labor is needed. And it has driven the industrial age which has fueled the 20th Century's ups and downs.

As more and more people are educated and have access to information, the backlash from dissatisfied workers continue. The clip from the movie "Reds" romanticizes one of the revolutions fueled by workers and ideals. 

The tension between the need to make a living and to become the human being that we yearn to become, will only grow stronger. As more people have enough to eat, learn, see opportunities and create, the tension will only grow. The social contracts of our parents become obsolete or need adjustment faster than ever. 

Yes, it is chaotic. Organised meetings, schedules and curricula that governed us in our youth is failing to prepare us for the creative future. It is a matter of time when manual labour will be given to automation (which many fear are robotic androids) will replace more and more of human labour. For those who loose their menial or repetitive jobs, it is a shock and loss. 

But this does free us to find new ways to survive, create value and learn. Gone is the dream of working the same type of job for life to retire to a life of leisure. I'm not sure if it was ever a realistic dream either practically or emotionally. Humans are always too unpredictable by nature to do one thing forever. Is this not the horror of a prison?

Labour is sweet if we are free to think, to choose, to create, be ourselves and enjoy. With Informatics and automation, led by humans who are continuously assessing rethinking and enjoying the change, we have a chance to outgrow the revolutionary events that have horrified the last Century.

The main problem was that social models failed to catch up to the human change. And pent up anger in individuals gets passed on to groups, which is what society is made up of. 

Media is now democratic in that just about anyone can change it. Buzz, popularity, fans, are called "viral" and no longer centralized. Barring attempts to fence off the Internet, I believe "Pandora's Box" has been opened. Just as it is near impossible to get toothpaste back into it's tube, the momentum of change in an age of Information began with the PC and has surpassed it so that the technology is opaque. Like electricity and distribution losing it's novelty in the 20th Century, Informatics and the machines that carry it, will loose its glamour quickly.

Work, labour and value are about to change forever, without an outright in-your-face revolution. But the video is romantic none-the-less singing about a utopia that was impossible to achieve.