dagblog - Comments for "Google Tries Something Retro: Made in the U.S.A."

Noted that Yglesias think

EmmaZahn — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 20:10:49 +0000

In reply to I found this on the NYT "most

Noted that Yglesias think much of the Kreider's recommendation of more ~~leisure~~ idleness which does seem to be in direct contradiction of his earlier yearning for more maids to have more time to spend with friends.

Personally, I credit boredom as one of the great motivators in human history right up there with curiosity in parenting invention.

Plus there are way too many Peter Principles around screwing up things that I would rather were watching television instead.

Thank you for the thoughtful

EmmaZahn — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 21:03:10 +0000

In reply to How important to your

Thank you for the thoughtful response. Love the Capote quote.

From what you wrote, I think you would like the economy of my new social order (cue menacing music). :-D It is based on the acquisition and sharing of knowledge, skills and experiences rather than jobs and earnings start very early in Pre-K.

I have to stop now. Typing time is growing shorter and shorter. I think I am finally going to have to get one of those speech recognition programs. Know any good ones?

Great link. Thanks. Its

EmmaZahn — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 20:48:30 +0000

In reply to I found this on the NYT "most

Great link. Thanks. Its best insight, imo.

It’s not as if any of us wants to live like this, any more than any one person wants to be part of a traffic jam or stadium trampling or the hierarchy of cruelty in high school — it’s something we collectively force one another to do.

It is not that I think any of my ideas for change are so radical that they have never been thought of by anyone else but in combination they do completely upend what many now think of as our way of life. And, I believe I know how to finance it without relying on our current wannabe masters-of-the-universe who have completely misled us about the nature of money. However it is not a quick fix or one that can just be legislated into existence. That is why I think the best way to present it is as a novel. Kudos to Ayn Rand for the inspiration there. It will, however, not include a 70-page manifesto disguised as a speech. :-D

Occupational surnames originally reflected a skill-based achieved status. They evolved into surnames when occupations were still largely hereditary. Eventually, of course, the names and trades disconnected but not the desire for a way to reflect achieved status. Screen names provide the first opportunity ever to tie a personally chosen name to an achieved or desired status. That part was just curiosity. It is the potential loss of achieved status that would be the obstacle.

I found this on the NYT "most

artappraiser — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 19:20:14 +0000

In reply to I have some thoughts about a

I found this on the NYT "most popular" list (it's currently #1 in "most emailed" & #3 in "most read") I suspect you'll also like what it says, and also note that the article's popularity is proof that some of you're ideas might not be considered as radical as you think:

The ‘Busy’ Trap
By TIM KREIDER

[......] Almost everyone I know is busy. They feel anxious and guilty when they aren’t either working or doing something to promote their work. They schedule in time with friends the way students with 4.0 G.P.A.’s make sure to sign up for community service because it looks good on their college applications. I recently wrote a friend to ask if he wanted to do something this week, and he answered that he didn’t have a lot of time but if something was going on to let him know and maybe he could ditch work for a few hours. I wanted to clarify that my question had not been a preliminary heads-up to some future invitation; this was the invitation. But his busyness was like some vast churning noise through which he was shouting out at me, and I gave up trying to shout back over it.

[......] The present hysteria is not a necessary or inevitable condition of life; it’s something we’ve chosen, if only by our acquiescence to it [......]

Oh and on your link, I wonder about too strongly relating the surname origins thing to current tendencies, only because so few people seem to even know about much less think about the meaning of the name acquired by their ancestors many centuries ago. Where I think it mostly is a signifier is in the northern European culture of ages ago where what service you offered is what name you got, but that was before people even had the time or education to think much of "identity" the way we do, worrying more about where to get the next meal and protection from the cold and from violence (or next group of loyal lieges if you were of the only other class) Here's the thing: if many northern Europeans themselves could shrug off that history and go more "southern," not caring about work so much, so can anyone else.

How important to your

artappraiser — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 18:01:25 +0000

In reply to I have some thoughts about a

How important to your personal identity is what you do, artappraiser?

Not a whole lot but that always hasn't been the case. It's a sort of be careful what you wish for thing (or even perhaps even a little bit of Capote's more tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones. ) I don't even much like my own work anymore and prefer to assist my spouse in somewhat related work which is also less stressful financially and in other ways for me.

I have often pondered starting over with a new screen name precisely because people infer identity issues from it I chose it with my first major net activities which were on ebay, there the identifier assisted me with some work-related things that I wanted to do When I started to get interested in some news blogs/forums in the run up to the Iraq war, I registered with the same name and password as a matter of ease of remembering without thinking about that choice I keep it now because of the ease of searching for my past postings and meanderings. But people do seem to assume a lot from it that isn't true in my case. I wish my screen name had fewer associations, was more bland. But it's so second nature to me that I don't think about all that, what others are thinking about it, it as much as I probably should..

how overspecialized we have become

This is one of the reasons my own field is not as "fun" for me as it once was; I was lucky to get in on the tail end of the years when it was not so specialized, for only a couple years. When it wasn't so specialized, you were learning all the time while working and it was often like Christmas every day, very exciting.

It's not all about specialization, though, there is also the problem about when you are on a lower level in a professional area of work, with lower pay, you have fewer stressful responsibilities. (Not to suggest people on low rungs in non-professional work don't have lots of stress, they do, they have too many "masters". I know, I had lots of those jobs too, while working so hard to break into the kind of work I wanted.)

In a lot of white collar and professional work, I think this is often the case. If people have luck combined with ambitiously and single-mindedly working like a dog for years if not decades and get into the "job of their dreams," they end up with something that quickly changes and is not what they like anymore. It's kind of the reverse of the Peter Principle, if good and lucky people rise to a level where they are having to mostly do stuff they don't like anymore.

Generally, I think it's a young person's thing, having your identity tied up with your job. (Though those who are long time breadwinners of families also have it.) A bit of living and finding out there are few "dream jobs," plus seeing people you are close to die, gets you more into believing the adage about no one ever died wishing they spent more days at the office.

I have some thoughts about a

EmmaZahn — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 22:06:40 +0000

In reply to Something comes to mind after

I have some thoughts about a possible future economy but am not sure they are ready for prime time. Or maybe I am just overly concerned about where and how to cast my pearls of wisdom. ;-D What I have in mind is very, very radical and bound to antagonize the die-hards of all current politico-economic persuasions although that is not my intent.*

One obstacle to moving beyond jobs that I have discovered is how much many people's personal identities are tied to what they do, especially the professional occupations. Not surprising really considering how deeply that is woven into family histories and how overspecialized we have become. Now that It is now even extended into choice of many screen names, I have been meaning to ask your thoughts on the subject. How important to your personal identity is what you do, artappraiser?

---

*Added after realizing orginal could be misinterpreted. See not ready for prime time. :-\

Something comes to mind after

artappraiser — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:40:14 +0000

In reply to We really need to start

Something comes to mind after writing that--the ads in the back of 50's/60's magazines: "learn to be a radio/TV repairman" targeted at people like miserable assembly line workers. It gets tiresome to hear the education/training mantra from politicos, frustrating in the "but yeah, can't you also give them some jobs they can do now?" way, but it really is all about the right training for future technology and always has been?

We really need to start

artappraiser — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 16:28:33 +0000

In reply to Google is not

We really need to start rethinking our economy beginning with remembering what its first purpose: to provide for the needs and wants of people.

Yeah, well put .

A pet peeve of mine is I don't see how lots of assembly line jobs producing our own plastic wastebaskets, salad shooters, imitation Croc shoes, fly swatters, and tube socks would make Americans proud and happy. (Even in the post WWII boom of factory jobs, there were certain products marked "made in Japan," where no one complained "gee Americans should have the jobs making those.")

Google is not

EmmaZahn — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 15:26:58 +0000

In reply to Google Tries Something Retro: Made in the U.S.A.

Google is not alone.

Microsoft Used Secret 3D Printers to Design Surface

...they created what they affectionately call the underground bunker, complete with armed security guards and biometric verification to get through the airlock-style doors. It was smaller than the Garage, but they didn’t really need that much room, not like they would have just a few years ago, thanks to — you guessed it — 3D printers. They could print any mockup they wanted right there in the bunker, completely sealed off from the outside world, on their 3D printer.

Check out the other things at that site. With 3D printing, the future is now. Closest thing yet to a Star Trek replicator. Between that and robotic assembly, I do not expect many jobs will return with the industry.

We really need to start rethinking our economy beginning with remembering what its first purpose: to provide for the needs and wants of people.