Traditional Jobs Becoming Extinct, New Paradigm Needed

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Eric Blair
Activist Post
Sept 12, 2011

As debt-riddled nations impose austerity measures and technical automation replaces human labor, joblessness continues to worsen around the world.  In the United States, yet another “stimulus” package of $447 billion in government spending has been proposed to create jobs. Economist Paul Krugman even proposed manufacturing an extraterrestrial threat to create a surge in unified defense spending, which he claims will pull the world economy out of recession in 18 months.  Clearly, these are desperate attempts to keep a failing paradigm alive.

Already, Western economies are propped up by jobs that are nonproductive and, in many cases, are destructive.  For example, the war on drugs employs countless people in positions that have proven to be very harmful to society, far more damaging than the drugs themselves.  And yes, ending the foreign wars will save trillions in government spending, but it will also bring millions of unemployed vets and contractors back into the workforce.  Furthermore, if all of the complicated games were halted on Wall Street, we’d likely face an extinction level event for “traditional’ jobs. The system is destructive and it’s time to question the paradigm of employment for the sake of employment.

Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital AgeTraditional Jobs Becoming Extinct, New Paradigm Needed  , recently asked if jobs are becoming obsolete?  Rushkoff uses the financial woes of the US Post Office as an example of a sector in decline.  He points out that 600,000 jobs and 400,000 pensioners are in danger.  Rushkoff correctly dismisses the political blame for the post office downfall and blames it on Internet communication; “People are sending 22% fewer pieces of mail than they did four years ago, opting for electronic bill payment and other net-enabled means of communication over envelopes and stamps.”

Rushkoff goes on to cite other examples where technology is replacing human labor like EZ-Passes and self-driving cars.  I recently pondered the impact of 3-D printers in every home, printing a cup, bowl, wrench, or toys when they are desired.  Imagine the jobs lost when this becomes a reality among countless other technical advances.  What would happen to jobs if you had a printer like the one in the video below?

Foxconn, an electronics manufacturer from Taiwan with about 40 percent of the global electronics market by creating things like iPhones and computer components, announced it will be replacing much of its staff with one million robots.  So it’s not just Western jobs being lost in the high-tech revolution. Video of robots that will replace these assembly line workers can be seen below.

Rushkoff astutely questions the current paradigm of “jobs”:

I am afraid to even ask this, but since when is unemployment really a problem? I understand we all want paychecks — or at least money. We want food, shelter, clothing, and all the things that money buys us. But do we all really want jobs?

We’re living in an economy where productivity is no longer the goal, employment is. That’s because, on a very fundamental level, we have pretty much everything we need. America is productive enough that it could probably shelter, feed, educate, and even provide health care for its entire population with just a fraction of us actually working.

Rushkoff stops short of advocating an acceptable welfare state.  However, he bravely questions the current paradigm where unemployment is unlikely to get better given advances in technology and the expendable nature of most tasks.  With nearly one quarter of Americans unemployed or under-employed, and countless more prisoners to occupations they detest, we must begin to ask if this is how we want society to be shaped.

  • A d v e r t i s e m e n t
  • Traditional Jobs Becoming Extinct, New Paradigm Needed

Employment for the sake of employment instead of innovation or production has infested our system for too long and is now clearly unsustainable.  No one should feel useless because a corporation or the government won’t give them a job.  Similarly, no one should be forced to waste their lives flipping burgers or working at a retail box store if that is not their desire.  It seems no better than slavery and we must begin to acknowledge that.

What if we simply allowed people to follow their passion no matter what it is?  It couldn’t cost more than maintaining the current warfare/welfare state, could it?  Given the broad knowledge available on the Internet of nearly every subject, the cost of allowing someone to self-educate in pursuit of their dreams would be minimal compared to the current paradigm of the college bubble.

It’s clear that traditional jobs will never return and, in fact, a large majority more could be done away with.  Society wouldn’t skip a beat as long as the people had food, shelter, and the freedom to follow their dreams.   It’s time to rationally discuss how to develop a new system that benefits everyone who wishes to participate.


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9 Responses to “Traditional Jobs Becoming Extinct, New Paradigm Needed”

  1. The trouble starts when they come out with shovel ready robots.

    Super Duper Man 1776 Reply:
    September 12th, 2011 at 1:48 pm

    TO ALL WHITE PEOPLE.

    STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING THIS VERY INSTANT AND GO TO YOUR NEAREST GHETTO.

    OPEN A CRACK HOUSE AND WE’LL CORNER THE MARKET !

    HH911HOAX Reply:
    September 12th, 2011 at 1:54 pm

    LOL – NOW THAT IS SOME GREAT RACISM. WE ALL KNOW ONLY DARKIES SMOKE CRACK, THAT IS WHY IT IS SO GREAT!

    SUPER DUPER IDIOT DOES IT AGAIN! YOUR CORPORATE MASTERS MUST BE SO PROUD!

    I HOPE THEY HAVE YOU OUT THERE PROTESTING THE NEW JOBS BILL.

    YES?

    GREAT. PERFECT. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK..

  2. “NEW PARADIGM NEEDED”?

    WOW..THE LEVEL…THE SHEER MAGNITUDE OF DENIAL IS…WELL….WOW!

    HOW ABOUT THIS FOR A “NEW PARADIGM”:

    “STOP FUCKING PAYING FOR WHAT YOU DON’T WANT”?

    GOSH…WOW…WHAT A COMPLICATED CONCEPT.

    YOU’D THINK…NAY..SCRATCH THAT…”ONE” WOULD THINK…THAT IN A NATION IN WHICH THE CHILDREN ARE LITERALLY…”RAISED” TO BE NOTHING BUT “DEDICATED CONSUMERS”…WELL..ONE..WOULD IMAGINE…THAT THE “CONSUMER METHODOLOGY” WOULD AT…SOME POINT..”TAKE OVER” AND OFFER ITSELF UP AS A “MODEL” FOR….UMMM..”OTHER ASPECTS” OF THE CULTURE BEYOND “WALKING THE ISLES”.

    THE CORPORATE GOVERNMENT IS SELLING A PRODUCT. BE “SMART CONSUMER” AND “RECOGNIZE” ITS ABSOLUTELY LETHAL DEFECTIVENESS AND:

    REFUSE TO PAY FOR IT.

    SAME GOES FOR “GOODS” MADE BY THE “CORPORATE PARTNERS” OF THE SECURITY/WAR STATE.

    DO….NOT…PAY.

    I FIND THIS TO BE SIMPLY..ASTOUNDING.

    BECAUSE THIS…PHENOMENA IS NOW…MORE THAN MERELY “ILLUSTRATIVE” OF A LEVEL OF UTTER HYPOCRISY..IT IS NOW..”PROOF” OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE OF THE “WEST”.

    FOR…THE CONSTANT AND…TOTAL…”FINANCIAL BACKING” OF EXACTLY…THE ‘WRONG THING” IN LITERALLY..”EVERY RESPECT”….IS NOW PRROF OF THE DENIAL AND SELF DECEIT THAT IS “FULLY OPERATIONAL” IN THE AMERICAN HIVE-MIND.

    FOR EXAMPLE…TOYOTA RECALL;

    A KNOWN DEFECTIVE PRODUCT..DANGEROUS….SO…PEOPLE STOP BUYING IT. EVERYONE “AGREES”..BIG MEDIA FREAK OUT…COMPANY DOES WHAT?

    IMMEDIATELY RESPONDS WITH PRACTICALLY..”BOWING AND SCRAPING”….BEGGING THE PUBLIC TO CONTINUE TO BUY ITS PRODUCT AND PROMISING…..EFFUSIVELY…TO “FIX IT” AND THEN EVEN TO “PROVE” THEY FIXED IT.

    BUT..WITH “GOVERNMENT”? WITH NOTHING LESS THAN YOUR ACTUAL..”EXISTENCE” AND “FREEDOM”?

    OOPS…SOME…..”SCHISM”…SOME KIND OF “EPISODE”….SOME SORT OF “SCHIZOPHRENIC RESPONSE”..HAS…OCCURRED.

    THE AMERICAN PEOPLE…SOMEHOW….”REFUSING” AND THUS “FAILING INTENTIONALLY”…TO DEMAND THE SAME THING FROM GOVERNMENT THAT THEY DEMAND FROMA MAKER OF…..CARS.

    WOW!

    AND THAT..TO ME…IS NOW PRETTY DIRECT EVIDENCE THAT WELL..”WE’RE JUST NOT GONNA MAKE IT!”

    FOR A LEVEL OF STUPIDITY OF THAT…”MAGNITUDE”..IS…QUITE POSSIBLY..”INSURMOUNTABLE”.

    CERTAINLY..”UNSUSTAINABLE”.

    HERE’S AN IDEA FOR A “NEW PARADIGM”;

    “TREAT ALL THINGS AS IF THEY WERE A TOYOTA!”

    REALLY LOOK..AND IF IT IS DEFECTIVE…UMM..GOSH…”DON’T BUY IT!”

    WOW!

    NOW THAT WAS…COMPLICATED….WHEW…

    NOT!

  3. OH YEAH..AND BY THE WAY UMM..”CORPORATE MAGGOTS”..I HAVE A LITTLE TIP FOR YOU REGARDING THE “ROBOTS”.

    YOU’D BETTER START MAKING THE FOLLOWING IF YOU WANT TO….STAY IN BUSINESS:

    “ROBOTS…THAT…MAKE ROBOTS…THAT…BUY THE GOODS OTHER ROBOTS ARE MAKING!”

    BECAUSE WITHOUT JOBS..UMM…”WHOM”…EXACTLY…DO YOU SUPPOSE WILL BE PURCHASING THE GOODS CREATED BY THE ROBOTS?

    I WONDER..HAVE YOU EVEN REALIZED THIS?

    I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THE ‘RATIONALE” AND THE “PLAN” FOR:

    “SELLING EXPENSIVE ELECTRONICS TO PEOPLE WITHOUT JOBS!”

    I MEAN THAT..WOULD BE A NEAT TRICK!

    SOLVE THE “ECONOMIC CRISIS” BY…UMM….WELL…..APPARENTLY….PRETENDING THERE ISN’T ONE.

    DENIAL IS THE NEW RELIGION.

    OH..AND OF COURSE ALONG WITH FEAR.

    PERHAPS THESE ROBOTS WILL LIKE “MILLER TIME” AFTER A HARD DAY’S WORK.

    THIS IS VERY INDICATIVE OF THE REALITY OF THE ENTRENCHED CORPORATE FASCIST MINDSET AND LEADS TO THE DIRECT AND OBVIOUS ‘ANSWERS’ REGARDING ‘WHY THERE WILL BE NO RECOVERY AS LONG AS THE CURRENT LEADERS ARE ALLOWED TO STAY IN POWER’.

    THEIR LEVEL OF GREED AND ARROGANCE IS NOW SO GREAT THAT THEY LITERALLY..”CAN NOT SEE” THE DIRECT AND INCREDIBLY..OBVIOUS…’RESULTS’ OF THEIR SO-CALLED ‘IDEAS’.

    FOR EXAMPLE…THE OBVIOUS REALITY AND OUTCOME OF “REMOVING HUMAN WORKERS FROM THEIR JOBS AND YET SOMEHOW..HOPING TO…’COME OUT AHEAD’ ECONOMICALLY..”

    REAL…SMART…MOVE.

    HH911HOAX Reply:
    September 12th, 2011 at 1:57 pm

    WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T SUPPORT THE NEW JOBS BILL OR ANYTHING LIKE IT!

    A DARKIE HELPED TO WRITE IT; AND NOT JUST ANY DARKIE, A FAKE KENYAN MUSLIM DARKIE!

    THE ONLY WAY OUT IS BY VOTING AGAINST YOUR OWN BEST INTEREST.

  4. Water, Food, Clothing, Cheap Shelter, Wine. Women, Guns, Chocolate, Drugs and Medicines…its time to get black market and medieval. Start dealing in slavery or become one yourself.

  5. WRINKLY RON PAUL CAN FIX THIS – WHEN HE IS FINISHED, JOBS WILL BE THE LEAST YOUR PROBLEMS.

  6. There is no better jobs program than the one in which Obama hires millions of teachers, police officers and firemen. More teachers are needed to educate the ignorant, more policemen are needed to incarcerate criminals, and more firefighters are needed to quickly respond to fires. The costs to create these important government jobs is zero, it will be paid for by saving 50 billion dollars laying off workers in unessential services.

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