quote:The world is shifting from a labor based economy to a knowledge based economy.
i seperated this out because it deserves it's own topic.
this idea is a myth.
the lie begins when you try to define labor. Thomas Edison put it very well.
Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing. Thomas A. Edison
and again:
Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Thomas A. Edison
labor is not properly defined if you try to make it a white collar V blue collar issue.
Scientists (i am intimately familiar with their world) are Labour, they wear white lab coats so what? they are still part of the Labour pool today, even among scintists we have White Collars versus Lab Coats....
the Lab Coats make more than the Janitor does, but their bosses (often not scientists at all) are the ones that still make 100 or more time what they do... it's a different pay scale, but the relativity is still the same.
In oil? When you have non-engineers making 100 times what the engineers amke? (we do) You get the bosses beleiving they are better than the engineers, their big paychecks actually convince them that htey know more than they do. That's how you get BP oil spills and other sad facts of life....
that's the real evil.... it's not Captitalism, it's misappropriating value of benefits to certain "workers" (white collar labor) and making their position the equivalent of pulling the insidecard to fill the Straight Flush.
I have friends in overalls whose friendship I would not swap for the favor of the kings of the world. Thomas A. Edison
Tell me, Glass, economically speaking, what is the difference between the guy cleaning the toilets and your rig scientists? Please don't dismiss this question, it forms the basis for my point.
posted
I dont get it. Its simple, if you are happy where you are you are happy where you are. Right? So if you arent making 100 times what you are now, that is really an issue you can take care of if you tried. I talk to people all the time who are just brain dead. Seriously, just do not care. Work a job, and just question. You see every news or media outlet it is pretty gloomy out there! If you want to get what is yours then go get it. Blah
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so. Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004
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The difference is how hard it would be to find someone else that could fill the same roll with as little disruption to the company as possible. It is far easier to find another janitor than someone with (in theory) advanced degrees in whatever field your scientists study.
That difference is what determines the pay disparity. You pay more for services that are harder to replace.
Now, as this applies to my belief that we are moving from a physical labor economy to a knowledge/skills based economy....we are entering the industrial age on steroids imo.
How many farm hands has John Deere put out of work, Glass? How many workers in car factories have been replaced by automation? Just in the time I've been in my current job, we've reduced our minimum headcount by nearly 45% by automating the repetitive/no skill steps.
While it is true that not all jobs can be automated, many can and are being replaced by robots/machines. Those unskilled laborers who WILL be replaced have two options: obtain skills while they still have jobs or try to do so after they've lost it.
posted
Sounds like you are talking about the information that is in this book I read it about 15 years ago a lot of it has come true. The book has a very interesting end and a possible soultion for mankind
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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posted
Those unskilled laborers who WILL be replaced have two options: obtain skills while they still have jobs or try to do so after they've lost it.
then why do we have 10 million or so illegals here?
theories are great. they form the basis for developing new "programs". The problem with mostof th theories i hear today are that they are basically flawed.
there is no shift. in fact? if you look carefully a tthe state of the world? you'll find that wher there's labor there's real growth and where there's not enough labor? there's illegal immigration.
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
It is far easier to find another janitor than someone with (in theory) advanced degrees in whatever field your scientists study.
i wish it were that simple... a dirty toilet is easy to see. everybody know that dirty toilets are gross, but they rarely stop to think that dirty toilets kill people.
up until the end of the first world war? more people died from simple hygeine diseases than they did from actual fighting. This is true from the time mankind began forming communities... Waste management was the first real need for govt. It seems like there's always somebody too lazy to walk far enough from the hut or the tent or fire to evacuate, and then somebody has to be elected to make them "conform".
even WW1 ended from the flu... that was not really a hygeine disease, but it would be the last war ended by disease or won by the side with the best latrine management. I'm not joking.
There are even fewer scietist jobs. Scientists work on new projects.
Albert Einstein:
"If we knew what we were doing? We wouldn't call it research would we?"
it's actually a huge struggle to fund scientific research. It's one of the most difficult business "pitches" there is. Prolly the most difficult.
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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