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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Time-Task Compression - Subverted Technology

Global Winds & Local Waves

Part 2 of 5

A University of Melbourne Edublog assignment

under the Freshman subject "Globalisation"

Passed with High Distinction (H1)

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3 Sep 2010, 10:20 PM by Benjamin L** C.Y. (Last edited: 4 Sep 2010, 12:05 AM)

(Blogger's note: Recall the readings titled The Discarded Factory and Social Acceleration)

Technology and capitalism are old friends. Businesses use it to deliver efficiency, comfort, and material ‘progress’. Is this correct?

Let’s see: In economics, the concept of capital-labour substitution will be known as the replacement of labour factor inputs with technological processes – with the factory being the classic example. This is a euphemism. The reality: workers are perpetually under pressure to upgrade their skills and dedicate more time and effort – to further reify themselves into commodities and factor inputs – in order to remain relevant in a world of increasingly technocratic production. In Orwellian Newspeak, this is euphemistically called “flexibility”, “skills upgrading”, and “competitiveness” that disguise the bleak truth in ‘progressive’ rhetoric.

But the Marxists have already touched on that. I put a new spin to it: capitalism has subverted technology and increased the pace of modern life. Technology has a quantitative aspect that concerns itself with efficiency: achieving the greatest results through the least input. Technology allows us to manufacture more goods with less time and effort, so why are modern, industrialised societies so rushed and stressful? Consider the following:

Technology: Reduced time for task completion, raising expectations of what can be done per unit time.

Capitalism: The profit imperative demands greater output per unit time in the quest for greater market share.

The synthesis of technology and capitalism: Completing more tasks per unit time becomes the norm, a sort of “time-task compression”.

But that alone isn’t sufficient to explain our increasing pace of life: rate of time-task compression must outstrip the time savings technology affords. I attribute this to global capital and labour migration. Because capital can flow from one factory to another overnight and workers can compete across borders, a “race to the bottom” (Klein, 2000) easily results. Competing factories and workers are under pressure to do more for the same income or achieve the same output for a lower price. Either way, it is a situation that puts extreme pressure on workers and, indeed, even executives striving to justify costs. This is where technology comes into play: it expedites the race to the bottom by facilitating capital transfers to areas with favourable terms and transports labour internationally. In short, someone, somewhere may be willing to do more for less and your boss can get them over.

This is competitiveness in our contemporary world: Use technology to shape up, or capitalism and technology can make you ship out.





Further Reading
Klein, Naomi. “The Discarded Factory: Degraded Production in the Age of the Superbrand.” No Logo. New York: Picador, 2000. 195-230.

Scheuerman, William E. “Social Acceleration.” Liberal Democracy and The Social Acceleration Of Time. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 2004. 1-25.






4 responses to: "Time-Task Compression - Subverted Technology"








Hilary C******** wrote:
Fri, 3 Sep 2010, 11:03 PM

I know, with all this technology to make my life and the lives of others easier, it seems like what is expected of us has doubled. Not fair!!! I'm constantly stressed for time on all the tasks I have to do, as a result certain things, like having a life, must sometimes suffer. I like your spin on this concept though, highlights a lot of reasons why the world seems crazier even though we continue to develop things to make life easier.


Benjamin L** C.Y. wrote: 

Sat, 4 Sep 2010, 12:04 AM
Thanks Hilary, I'm glad you like it :)
I hope our tutors, as fellow victims of the modern rush-ethos, can empathise and act accordingly (*HINT HINT!*)


Mariah C*** wrote:
Sat, 4 Sep 2010, 12:22 PM
Good question, what has created our fast paced life if technology is shortening the time it takes to do things. I agree the use of technology permits more activites to not only be completed quicker but also expected to be completed quicker. But I think this also creates a sense of frustration and anxiety.  Firstly, to not be left behind in the technological race and to be worried that we don't have the latest equipment but secondly also our reliance on such technology. If the expectation (that something is done quickly) exists but the technology does not, clearly creates stress. For example the break down of a photocopying machine, computer, car or 'frozen' webpage. The expectation that the work will be done quickly is still there but it is not as attainable

Benjamin L** C.Y. wrote:
Sat, 4 Sep 2010, 4:08 PM
Well put Mariah. In our modern haste, it becomes very distressing when technology fails. Ironically, we have become dependent on the medium of social acceleration. Expectations do soar, technology keeps pace with it, yet the faster processes it creates further raises time-task expectations. It's a negative feedback cycle that works against the people it's supposed to help.


Thursday, November 18, 2010

Simulacrum? That is SO 20th Century!

Global Winds & Local Waves

Part 1 of 5

A University of Melbourne Edublog assignment

under the Freshman subject "Globalisation"

Passed with High Distinction (H1)

============ ============ ============



27 Aug 2010, 6:23 PM by Benjamin L** C.Y. (Last edited: 28 Aug 2010, 4:07 PM)

Our browser window is a doorway into a cyber universe the ‘meta-globe’ of the 21st Century. It’s characterized by mass participation on purpose-built platforms such as Youtube and Facebook that come under the portmanteau nomenclature “Web 2.0”. Youtube is perhaps the quintessential Web 2.0 platform: agents, commercial or recreational, can broadcast and define themselves using videos made through various technologies. It’s where the physical and digital worlds converge. Calling Web 2.0 a simulacrum is an understatement for it isn’t merely a simulation of physical reality – it is an extension of our social world.

A person’s online presence can affect his/her corporeal life. Consider the case of Zee Avi: a Malaysian singer/songwriter whose rise to fame started with recreational music videos posted on Youtube that came to the attention of Bushfire Records, a records company that flew her to Los Angeles, USA, to publish an album now ranked #9 by the Associated Press for the best albums of 2009. It is “a true 21st century tale of the way the Internet has … shrunk the globe in the process.“ (Zee Avi's official Bio).

But it isn’t all fun and games in an age where major political parties that tout similar policies – “moving forward” – in different Orwellian Newspeak. We may feel politically disempowered, even apathetic. Web 2.0 addresses that. Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, released 77,000 classified US State Department and Pentagon files regarding the on-going Afghan war. The UN Security Council – tasked with ensuring international territorial integrity – is silent and powerless because the USA has veto powers as a member of the P5.

Assange has ingeniously succeeded where global governance has failed. No government can touch him. He is an Australian citizen, the Swedish Web hosting company PRQ hosts the files, and the plaintiff is the US government. As Baldor (2010) writes:


“… [A] Threat to release more classified Pentagon and State Department documents is raising difficult questions of what the [US] government can or would do, legally, technically or even militarily to stop it.” (Baldor, 2010)
The documents may not stop the war, but Assange has demonstrated that private citizens have a new form of uncensored political power. Mahatma Gandhi would have been proud!

In sum, Web 2.0 is not a mere simulacrum – it interacts with ‘traditional’ reality. I know we all have a lot of reading to do (*groans~*) so here’s Zee Avi to brighten your day :o)

Reference
Baldor, C. (2010) What to do about WikiLeaks? Not much can be done. Associated Press hosted by Google. Found via the AP iPhone application, URL expired.


2 responses to: "Simulacrum? That is SO 20th Century!"

Christie S********* wrote:
Sun, 29 Aug 2010, 10:16 PM
What Julian Assange said makes me wonder if the government will seek to have tougher control over the internet in the future. Or if that is even possible as it seems there are many loopholes in the way it is constructed and the laws over ownership.


Benjamin L** C.Y. wrote:

Mon, 30 Aug 2010, 9:43 PM
Yea I agree with you. Anonymity and international accessibility are two key features in the cyber landscape. Unless there is an international consensus (conspiracy!?) between governments, unilateral censorship is pretty useless because there are so many ways around it. It seems that the internet is becoming a viable political too though - it'll be interesting to watch it's evolution in coming years :D



Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Ambrose's Wit

Ambrose Bierce comes up with hilarious quips that actually hold water! I know little about the fellow and am too bogged down with exam revision to read more, but here're 4 little definitions from him:


Bigot, n.: One who is obstinately and zealously attached to an opinion that you do not entertain.

Admiration, n.: Our polite recognition of another's resemblance to ourselves.

Harangue, n.: A speech by an opponent, who is known as an harrangue-outang.


All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher.