TECHNOLOGY
Remember When Tech Made Life Better?
First the machines replaced our muscles, but now they want to replace our minds and imaginations
The tech we thought would keep making our lives easier is now threatening to ruin us. It’s not the tech’s fault. In theory, inventions that can take over most of the work are wonderful — who would choose to dig with a shovel instead of heavy machinery?
The problem is the people who own the tech.
Tech has always disrupted workers’ lives
The first industrial revolution began with the invention of mechanized spinning and weaving machines. (Ken Follett’s latest Kingsbridge novel, Armor of Light, takes you into the world of textile workers who struggled to adapt to those changes.)
The second industrial revolution was more of the same — lots of mechanization, standardization and mass production — to the point that I question whether it’s really worth delineating it from the first one.
What’s happening now is new
Call it the third or fourth industrial revolution as you wish, but it’s nothing like what came before. We no longer are replacing human muscle or rote work with machines. Now we’re…
