> do they owe us a living? > of course they do, of course they do > do they owe us a living? > of course they fucking do > > - Crass (1977) > > thanks jim
i used to think that matt's perspective is unrealistic. but, over time, it has become more clear to me that (quoting from matt fair's audio cd's):
"economies now grow without requiring more labor. technical progress means fewer jobs, not more. and the reserve army of the unemployed has been replaced by a new class of redundant people…" . . . "in the high-tech society, there just aren't enough jobs to go around, and there never will be." . . . "labor, business, and government have not really faced this." . . . "many of the traditional industries were collapsing…the one sector that was growing, electronics and electronic communications was growing rapidly and steadily eliminating jobs from its processes." . . . "even on farms, where you used to have ten people working a big farm, you now have one or two, and there's so much food produced people are payed not to produce."
employment is being eliminated by machines in most sectors of the economy. so what happens to all these people? what happens to us? and where does the money go for all the production being done by the machines? do we end up with a feudal economy, one where there are relatively few rich and oh so many poor people?
that's a recipe for complete social collapse.
matt fair looks at this situation and proposes the idea that we live in a society of abundance, not scarcity. abundance of food. abundance of materials to meet peoples' needs. abundance of computers and telecommunications and so on. things would operate a lot better if there was a more equitable distribution of the wealth.
and he backs up his arguments with twenty years of research and audio from the great thinkers of the last fifty years and much reportage on the state of society from cbc radio and other radio networks.
matt makes the best use of all that radio that i've ever heard. he turns that radio into really a very concentrated and eloquent statement, not just by him, but by so many people over the years.
a very impressive project, inspiring, really. to hear that radio material put to such intelligent and socially significant use. and to listen to his conscientous life's work and realize it has been worth it.
i've seen him work with this material for a long time. and it has changed over time. his audio collages have gone from pretty loose things where the quotes tended to be too long and the focus got lost and confused to compositions that are both cogent and informative in their arguments–and fascinating in their composition.
i have also seen the manuscripts he's put together over the years. he has about ten book-length manuscripts on the themes of work and play and philosophy. i'm a big fan of his work.
Comments
> do they owe us a living?
> of course they do, of course they do
> do they owe us a living?
> of course they fucking do
>
> - Crass (1977)
>
> thanks jim
i used to think that matt's perspective is unrealistic. but, over time, it
has become more clear to me that (quoting from matt fair's audio cd's):
"economies now grow without requiring more labor. technical progress means
fewer jobs, not more. and the reserve army of the unemployed has been
replaced by a new class of redundant people…"
.
.
.
"in the high-tech society, there just aren't enough jobs to go around, and
there never will be."
.
.
.
"labor, business, and government have not really faced this."
.
.
.
"many of the traditional industries were collapsing…the one sector that
was growing, electronics and electronic communications was growing rapidly
and steadily eliminating jobs from its processes."
.
.
.
"even on farms, where you used to have ten people working a big farm, you
now have one or two, and there's so much food produced people are payed not
to produce."
employment is being eliminated by machines in most sectors of the economy.
so what happens to all these people? what happens to us? and where does the
money go for all the production being done by the machines? do we end up
with a feudal economy, one where there are relatively few rich and oh so
many poor people?
that's a recipe for complete social collapse.
matt fair looks at this situation and proposes the idea that we live in a
society of abundance, not scarcity. abundance of food. abundance of
materials to meet peoples' needs. abundance of computers and
telecommunications and so on. things would operate a lot better if there was
a more equitable distribution of the wealth.
and he backs up his arguments with twenty years of research and audio from
the great thinkers of the last fifty years and much reportage on the state
of society from cbc radio and other radio networks.
matt makes the best use of all that radio that i've ever heard. he turns
that radio into really a very concentrated and eloquent statement, not just
by him, but by so many people over the years.
a very impressive project, inspiring, really. to hear that radio material
put to such intelligent and socially significant use. and to listen to his
conscientous life's work and realize it has been worth it.
i've seen him work with this material for a long time. and it has changed
over time. his audio collages have gone from pretty loose things where the
quotes tended to be too long and the focus got lost and confused to
compositions that are both cogent and informative in their arguments–and
fascinating in their composition.
i have also seen the manuscripts he's put together over the years. he has
about ten book-length manuscripts on the themes of work and play and
philosophy. i'm a big fan of his work.
http://theworldowesyoualiving.org