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posted by martyb on Thursday November 05 2015, @12:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the debugging? dept.

In a kind of counter intuitive argument in this article in The Wall Street Journal , Uber drivers may now have to battle with the fact that no human is actually telling them what to do. Most of the tasks are now being automated. The study by Researchers at the Data and Society research institute at New York University point out that Uber uses software to exert similar control over workers that a human manager would.

The world looks more and more like the Manna short story, where every aspect of our employee life is used to classify our performance. Another interesting discussion point: Is the middle manager role disappearing?


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  • (Score: 2) by dbe on Thursday November 05 2015, @08:46PM

    by dbe (1422) on Thursday November 05 2015, @08:46PM (#259079)

    The concept is interesting but there is no explanation how to boot-strap it. The closest i found [technocracy.ca] was just this vague list of things that have to happen. But how you "force" people to do their work (or their fair share of energy in the society)? While many people enjoy doing something from their hands, because doing more work will not bring you more "energy", how would you do for all the low level tedious works? You can't force people through money scarcity in this concept...
    -dbe

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  • (Score: 2) by Murdoc on Friday November 06 2015, @01:11AM

    by Murdoc (2518) on Friday November 06 2015, @01:11AM (#259199) Homepage

    As mentioned, Technocracy uses automation for these jobs. It is a system where machines do all the work people don't want to do, so that just leaves the work that people do want to do, so you don't have to force them to do it. And while there may still be a few jobs left that aren't the most desirable, there will be more than enough people to do these jobs because they will know how important they are. People already volunteer for lots of undesirable jobs today, in an environment that discourages it (because the time and effort they spend volunteering could be spent doing work that would earn them money). So with the need to earn a living removed, there will be even more people willing to do this kind of work than there is today.

  • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday November 06 2015, @05:12AM

    by mhajicek (51) on Friday November 06 2015, @05:12AM (#259291)

    I think getting people to do what work is needed isn't the hard part, because automation. The hard part is getting those in power to not hoard the results but instead give food and shelter freely to people who don't have any work of value to do.

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
    • (Score: 2) by Murdoc on Friday November 06 2015, @09:49AM

      by Murdoc (2518) on Friday November 06 2015, @09:49AM (#259354) Homepage

      Then it's a good thing that in a Technocracy:
      1) There is no power to abuse.
      2) Right to consume is a guaranteed basic right of citizenship.
      3) There is no "private property", making hoarding difficult.
      4) The entire point of Technocracy is "To produce an abundance of goods and services for all citizens for the longest period possible." Thus limiting anyone artificially would be against the point.

      • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday November 06 2015, @10:06PM

        by mhajicek (51) on Friday November 06 2015, @10:06PM (#259688)

        And that is why Technocracies only exist in fiction. Someone will have control of the means of production, and therefore have power.

        --
        The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek