Industrialization Was The Worst Thing That Happened to Humanity

Now AI is here to sort this shit out

In 2023, 35% of companies are using AI in their business. The industries with the highest AI adoption rates include financial services, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing. They use AI platforms and tools to automate tasks, improve workflows, and create new services and products. Source: Google Photo Canva

“I think the human race made a big mistake at the beginning of the industrial revolution, we leaped for the mechanical things, people need the use of their hands to feel creative.” (Andre Norton)

It was an unusually warm December afternoon, and there I was, a brand-new member of the ‘38-and-divorced’ club, basking in the sweetness of my freshly found freedom. When the whole separation thing kicked off, I made it a habit to treat myself to solo dates. It became my weekly self-love ritual. I’d wander around the nearby shopping centre, picking up bits and bobs for our new home.

It was on this December afternoon, right before Christmas, and there I am, doing my solo date thing again, preparing myself for my first Christmas as a single mom. I was sitting in a busy shopping centre cafeteria, observing the crowds, sipping on my fancy vegan hot chocolate, trying to vibe with the Xmas tunes in the background, when out of nowhere, I got this weird feeling.

As I looked over at the busy counter, where the workers were hustling to keep up with the impatient crowd, it felt like time had stopped for a brief moment. Like a scene from The Matrix, where everything goes into slow-motion, I suddenly find myself zoomed out, feeling like I’ve cracked the code to human suffering.

Industrialization has brought economic prosperity to some; additionally it has resulted in more population, urbanization, obvious stress on the basic life supporting systems while pushing the environmental impacts closer to the threshold limits of tolerance. Source: Google, Image by Chris Leboutillier on Unsplash

Our lives are never going to be the same again

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” (Mary Oliver, The Summer Day)

Gazing at the till operator, who, if I had to hazard a guess, appeared to be in her mid-sixties, I couldn’t help but wonder. What happened to the simple existence that connected us more intimately with nature and our communities? What happened to life where we lived near one another, sharing resources and the sense of belonging?

Where are all the artisans and craftsmen showering us with unique items, reflecting the skills and creativity of the individual craftsmen?

What happened to the natural cycles and living in harmony with the simpler pace of life?

Two-hundred and sixty-three years ago, millions of people’s lives changed in a blink of an eye as the first industrial revolution took place in Great Britain.

The wake-up call

Imagine living in the late 1700s, where life’s pretty chill. You wake up one day, and bam! The first Industrial Revolution crashed the party. Suddenly, your life has been turned upside-down. No more waking up to the rooster’s crow, now there’s this thing called the factory whistle blasting at the crack of dawn.

Congratulations! You've been handed a fresh role in society, and it's your conscientious duty to dive right in.

Work! Work!Work! Your long strolls along the beach have been replaced by long hours, cramped spaces, and noisy machinery. Home Sweet… Factory? As people’s home life is getting a makeover, we replace quaint cottages with cramped urban apartments and factory-owned housing. But hey, at least your beloved job is just a stone’s throw away.

As we slowly surrender to our new reality, the masses stand bare, stripped of their personal freedom, choice becomes scarce and a novelty.

Welcoming child labour, saying good-bye to quality, succumbing to stress and anxiety

Almost three centuries ago, we gave away our power. We signed up for endless chores, and replaced our time in nature with monotony, sitting all day entrapped between four walls.

Retirement became a thing of the past, nowadays more people than ever find solace in their eternal rest directly after enduring years of donkey work.

We became the by-product of greed and tyranny. Every day millions of us contribute to the suffering of children in poor communities. We allow terrible things, in fact, we show demand for things like child labour.

As we forget about quality and ‘cheap and cheerful’ becomes the slogan of the 21st century, 1 in 5 children are forced to take part in work that produces your next gaudy item of whatever you choose to pick to fill your current desire.

According to Cancer Research UK, every two minutes, someone is diagnosed with this horrible disease in the UK. The main cause of this dreadful illness? Stress and anxiety. But don’t worry, Xanax and Valium are here to the rescue.

Because numbing our inherent desire for freedom and contributing to the hamster wheel that only makes the rich richer and the poor poorer, is surely better than facing our doomed reality.

After taking over two centuries to destroy our planet, we have finally arrived to the conclusion. Reflecting on these eventful two hundred years, it becomes clear that right from the start, we’ve been preparing ourselves for this very moment.

I asked ChatGPT if AI is going to replace human labour. The answer was this: AI is poised to replace human labor in various ways due to its ability to perform tasks more efficiently, accurately, and tirelessly. Here are several ways in which AI is likely to impact and potentially replace certain types of human labor. Reference: Chat GPT. Image by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

AI is here to save the day — the blessing in disguise

According to this source , potentially 800 million jobs could be replaced by Artificial Intelligence worldwide by 2030.

From customer service agents to design enthusiasts, coding experts, factory workers, writers, and legal representatives — there is very little that our smart little guy can’t handle.

Trained for efficiency and free from human bias, complacency, and best of all once fully set, AI provides free labour —it looks like, once again, our world is about to change rapidly.

But don’t fear. While the devastating impact of Artificial Intelligence on human labour might seem like a scene from a horror movie, it is likely to be welcomed by many as a blessing in disguise.

Just like the 2020 pandemic that forced us to pause and reflect, job losses were welcomed by many.

Humans are blessed with a fighting spirit that no AI can ever replace. We are survivors, and despite the bleak predictions for our imminent future, once we surrender to our destiny, and release ourselves from greed and ego, we can finally welcome AI as a companion that puts a stop to long shifts in soul-sucking jobs, giving our power and freedom back from the ceaseless hamster wheel.

And who knows, maybe one day soon, in the not-too-distant future, we can embrace waking up naturally to the soft sunlight and the sound of singing birds. Long hours confined within the sterile walls of the office could be replaced by quality time with our loved ones and peaceful strolls along the beach.

Thank you for reading.

P.S: What are your predictions about AI? Do you see it as the enemy or a faithful companion?

For more stories, please subscribe to my newsletter here.