Division of labour…

Pieter_bruegel_il_giovane,_estate_02Humans realised very early that in order for all of us to progress – we need to trade.

Traditional labour, as it has been for centuries, included just agriculture where it was one person who sows the seeds, waters them, watches them grow, and takes them out to the market to then sell – all sourced from the need to feed himself and his family.

In today’s world,  we have divisions of labour. We adapted this from bees and monkeys. Each individual has a set task to do and he is expected to learn on the job as he gains experience i.e. the learning curve.But just like terminal velocity, which is reached after maximum velocity is reached on free fall- it is inevitable that a stage comes when the individual cannot learn any more.

The advantage now is that you have maximised that one task so that a lot more can be produced and all understanding on the item can be reached. The disadvantage, on the other hand, is that the skill and dexterity of creativity is lost. The learning of the over all picture, the higher perspective, the aerial view has been taken away without that labourer’s awareness.

You then advertise those same manufactured items as necessities and use social media to keep them comparing each other – such a clever way to keep humans chained. And they think they are free in doing this.
When each individual goes deeper and deeper in his skill – you have in abundance to give to another and you believe what you are getting is of good value too.

The life of a labourer. Just look at a typical labourer in any industry in a developed world – how similar is their life today to how humans have existed for thousands of years? Lets take an example of a furry coat that he wears. The furry coat is the produce of the joint labour of a great multitude of workmen. The shepherd, the sorter of the wool, the carder, the dyer, the scribbler, the spinner, the weaver, etc must all join their skills and arts to complete this piece of cloth that keeps him warm. Even just the sourcing of the products for the dye has to come from different parts of the world. This is just the production, how many more people would be involved in the shipping of the product, or even just the sourcing of it for the dye has to come from different parts of the world. Further, the tools needed have their own detail.
So the modern man would not have been made without the help of so many. We are only talking about the man that is considered the simplest of all in today’s world – the labourer. Now imagine all the things we take fore granted on a daily basis. What is the history behind them? How trade affected us in ways we don’t even stop to ponder about.

Following the trends that exist today – to peek into the future,  whatever can be automatised requires less labour. Once the labour has perfected his division – all you need is a machine to replace that same activity. So then the question is, do we even need humans any more?

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