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To the Children of the Modern Age and Beyond

By Alan Baylis

In the 19th century a group of people collected together and became known as Luddites. These people had just witnessed the invention of the steam engine and thought that it and other inventions would cause high unemployment, as a form of protest they would go about destroying the labor-saving machinery.

Given my previous writings it may be presumed by some that I am a Luddite, or worse, a hypocritical Luddite because I use a computer in my chosen occupation. This is far from the truth. I am not a Luddite, not because their observations were incorrect as they clearly weren't, but because I believe labor-saving machinery is a blessing. What I do claim is that the corporations lied about their true intentions. With the implementation of each new labor-saving device they have said that it was simply to make the workers jobs easier and that they did not intend to make the workers redundant. We have been fed this lie for hundreds of years now, to the point where the largest Guinness plant in Ireland, which covers 60 square miles of factory space, was reported to have a work force of two, due solely to automation. Car manufacturers that used to employ thousands of people now operate with a couple of hundred due to the introduction of robot machinery. Given these examples I still do not blame the machinery itself. I know that if the companies had been truthful, then millions of people would now be paid a full wage to tend the machines that replaced them. Their jobs would have been reduced to occasionally oiling their machine and taking over from it or fixing it when it broke down. Ideally, each person who has lost their livelihood due to automation should now be paid a full wage by the company that dismissed them. Let loose from the bonds of a repetitive task, they could then pursue higher concepts which further the introduction of new inventions. I do not have delusions that any companies are actually going to do this without being forced to do so, I write these things simply to help people to think deeply about the subject, pointing out that it is not the people's fault that there are steadily decreasing job prospects, and if possible, to remove the stigma of unemployment that inevitably follows.

It is not entirely the people's fault when they don't think deeply about a subject. After all, like electricity and water, the brain likes to take the path of least resistance. Why climb a mountain when you can just take a helicopter ride to the top? Well, that would be true if we could trust the pilot to take us to the top of the right mountain and not another that appears to be it.

Take for instance a non-profit organization that has taken upon itself the noble task of saving the Australian koala's natural habitat of eucalyptus trees. To raise funds for the administrational costs of the organization they decide to sell koala shaped jellies. Even though this turns out to be a successful way to get people to donate and brings in more money than just asking for donations we should think more deeply about what is going on. Putting aside the issue of the production and disposal of the non-biodegradable plastic packaging, and even the over consumption of sugar in developed countries, we are ignoring the fact that sugar plantations are one of the major causes of natural habitat degradation in the world.

The organization could instead make badges to sell and raise funds, however, this again becomes a problem as most people who buy badges only wear them for one day or possibly never. They would then be responsible for creating a very long term waste product that contributes to making land fill areas some of the largest man made structures in the world.

Perhaps they could deliver a pamphlet to each home as a way of creating awareness of the problem. This would ignore the fact that large paper plantations are a totally unnatural habitat to koalas or many other native species for that matter, they are in fact a barren desert to the wildlife in these areas. Just because they are green doesn't make them a thriving ecological system.

Think deeply about everything you do and about your very existence, whether you believe in the theory of evolution or a Creator of mankind. Defying incredible odds, you have a life with which to achieve almost any endeavor you set your mind to, choose carefully, and don't be distracted by the hype.