KMO and friends, not sure how many of you have happened across this short story by Marshall Brain called Manna. Its a dystopian narrative about management software taking over the food industry, creating an on demand group of serfs totally dependent on the largess of an algorithm. I find this is becoming somewhat the norm in my own industry, pharmaceutical robotics (I am just Mr. Fix-it). We are being run by spreadsheet fetishists who are increasingly detached from the human element, instead focusing on the numbers. I have actually butted heads with supervisors regarding this phenomenon and how it doesnt reflect actual customer service (what is going on client side). They just dont get it; but they are paid to not get it. Middle management is effectively a firewall between the workers and the owners, preventing any change from taking place and creating additional burdens on workers who are considered expendable. Have watched policy shift over the last number of years and consequently seen the company hemorrhage 100s of man-years of experience as colleagues have moved on to greener pastures. I am not career minded so I just keep on keeping on, not to mention the cut in hours has actually been great for me, I am not interested in going back to working 120 hours in a 9 day stretch. In any case, didnt mean to ramble so much about my situation, only to say that I can relate to this story as a high tech worker. Its no small source of amusement to me that I take my wages, divert the energy toward our family and our localization interests. My wife is an herbalist and has recently started her own school of herbalism here in WA state. I consider this antidote, in its own way, to the continuing degradation and disconnection that the machine culture has brought us. Cheers :)
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 17:20:46 +0000
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