"As each realm is overtaken by complex techniques, the usual order is inverted, and new rules established. The mighty tumble, the once confident are left desperate for guidance, and the nimble are given a chance to prevail!" (Kelly 1999, p1) - a metaphor for America?
Kelly talks of a new world order where in the future almost everything will be automatic, that the physical labour of today will become not so physical labour of tomorrow. The hard becoming soft. In fact some even believe that the technological age should or will be described in the future as the "3rd Industrial Revolution" (Pol and Carroll 2007, p5).
Maybe in America the average person is moving into softer and softer industries but I'm sure world wide the average number of people in "hard industries" to those in "soft" will stay relatively equal. It just means that most if not all manufacturing and other labour intensive (non-communication) jobs will be outsourced to Africa and the sub-continent. Eventually the idea of outsourcing will not be so taboo, if it has not changed already, and in the future as technology changes our society, are people really going to be willing to do the work.
In the future, with such a fundamental shift in the economy and society those blue-collar jobs are becoming less and less desirable. Even today the government has to subsidise apprenticeships and open trade schools in order to increase recruitment. So who is to say that in the future, the great Western powers will be very little more than information traders? The age of technology, surely Japan and China will have a say about who will be doing the physical labour in the end.
Kelly, K. 1999, 'This New Economy', in New Rules for the New Economy, accessed 3/8/2011, http://www.kk.org/newrules/newrules-intro.html
Pol, E. and Carroll, P. 2007, 'New Economy', in An Introduction to the Creative Economy, McGraw Hill, NSW, North Ryde.
Interesting and scary prospect Rob! I guess Nike and other major companies would enjoy the idea of losing the taboo of outsoucing their labour, especially in regards to their negative image from previous sweatshop manufacturing activities.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the hard and soft industries will remian relatively equal, especially because when it comes down to it, all soft manufacturing and creation relies on the products of hard labour.
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