Pardon my naivety. What is automation? I've just subscribed and although
I like Chomsky I am not familiar with all his terms.
Thanks

Silvia

Ralph Gainey wrote:
>
> John Rider wrote ...
>
> >There's a very funny classic science fiction story by Philip Jose Farmer
> >called `Riders of the Purple Wage' in which most people have been replaced
> >by automation and are on the dole.
>
> I am reminded of the predictions made in the late forties and fifties ... we
> [students]
> were told to prepare for lots of leisure ... that the 40 hr workweek would
> be reduced
> significantly ... and that everyone would be bore stiff with the "excess"
> time ...
> everyone bought into the leisure industries ... Brunswick [bowling] and
> Outboard
> Marine [boating/fishing] ...
>
> Automation came ... but we just became the tenders of the machines ... there was
> MORE work ... done faster ... and the hours have not been reduced ... and
> the profits
> have not been distrubuted ... and everything Marx predicted about the octopus
> spreading its tentacles to grab everything with its profits has come true ...
>
> When I was young, major corporations accounted for about 45% to 50% of the
> typical
> household dollar ... and private enterprise was everywhere ... now the major
> corporations account for well over 80% of the household dollar ... and it
> continues
> to rise ... the funeral industry was highlighted on 60 Minutes yesterday ...
> a conspiracy?
> maybe not ... but it is SOMETHING ... and it is among us as the fungus of
> tobacco ...
>
> Greetings of Little River
>
> My very best regards,
> Ralph Gainey